Chemical Equations
by Elis Island
Summary: Waking up as an 8-year old in a world where you're expected to protect... a village with your life...? What did I just wake up to? Sophomores in high school generally aren't prepared to wake up in a different world. Teagen Wells will have to adjust to not having sports in her life. Rated T for cussing. (Trying to be) Realistic. Up for adoption.
1. New Body?

**AU: Hello** **from** **the outside! Lol. It's from Adele's new song, Hello, and it's trending in 2015. I told you people that because maybe some of you are reading this in the year 2034. If so, than hello people from 2034. I haven't written in a while, so forgive me for any mistakes. This story is for fun and I'm bored. Who knows? If people like it, I guess I've got to finish it. I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter One**

I didn't know I had fallen asleep until I woke up. It wasn't one of those things where you wake up after a beauty sleep. No, I was slapped awake. It wasn't a hard slap, but it wasn't very gentle either.

"Wake up, Kabocha-san," the slapper said. Opening my eyes, I was greeted to the sight of a boy with brunnete hair and dark blue eyes standing above me. _Who was this guy? Why is he standing above me? Where the hell am I?_

"Wh-"

"No time to talk. You're going to be late for your first day at the Academy." He took my hand and dragged me to my feet. Looking down, I saw I had on a gray t-shirt and gray shorts. On my feet were black sandals. I don't know if the shoes qualified as sandals, but I didn't have another word for them.

Now that we were even height, I got a better look at the boy. He had on the same outfit as I and had a strange pouch strapped to his arm. Giving a quick glance around us, I could tell I wasn't in my room in Texas. The place we were in resembled the orphanage from the movie, Annie, but except for beds, there were just yoga mats and pillows. The walls and floor were made of stone, as was the ceiling. For windows, there was just large holes in the walls with iron bars running through them.

"Get a move on, Kabocha-san." He shoved something that looked like a lunchbox into my arms and ushered me out the door, telling me to follow the rest of the kids. I didn't question it; I was sure I'd figure out what was going on later, but for now, I followed them.

Seeing the outiside, my face paled. I was expecting skyscrapers, dirty alleyways, and a littered city with honking cars. Instead, there were trees everywhere. No skyscrapers or cars or any sign of modern technology of the 21st Century that I was used to. _Where was I?_ I shook off the nausea that had started to gather in my stomach. At least I wasnt kidnapped.

At least I wasn't dead.

As we walked, I felt like I was thrown back in time. There were women in long skirts and pants. Men in t-shirts and long pants. Everyone had on neutral colors, as if trying not to draw attention to themselves. Shifting my sight up, I saw people running along the rooftops of the crowded apartments made of wood and stone. They jumped from roof to roof, flowing past one another as they went. To the kids in front of me, it looked as though this was an everyday occurrence. So I was part of this group of kids? I guess I better act like I know what everything is and if I don't know something, I'll figure it out.

Not everything was apartments though. Sprinkled along the apartments were shops. Shops that sold toys, weapons, food, weapons, food, more food, more weapons... Was this village centered around food and weapons? I was surprised nobody was obese. Catching sight of my reflection in a weapons shop window, I stopped to gawk. I wasn't me. I wasn't tall at all. In fact, I barely scrapped by 4'6. My hair had turned from brown with sunstreaks in it to just plain brown. It now rested in a high ponytail on top of my head that I had put up because it was hot. It also came down to mid-back now, instead of just below my shoulders. My beautiful ice blue eyes had turned into a mud brown. Overall I was skinny, as I was before, but if I wanted to gain some muscle back, I needed to start working out.

Our little group composed of 4 people, (including me) stopped in front of a crowd of kids our age. Intermixed within the kids were what I assumed were their parents; some of them bore resemblemce that an idiot couldn't have missed. I lingered in the back of the crowd. I didn't want to be stuck in something I didn't know about. What had that guy said? _"First day at the Academy?"_ Ah. So the structure in front of the crowd must be The Academy.

"Seeing as how the last kids have arrived, we will get started!" I turned my eyes to the speaker at the front of the crowd. He was a grown man with tan skin and a cut on his nose. He wore clothes that looked easy to move in and had something shiny around his forehead. I didn't give it much thought though. He said a couple things, mostly telling us that we needed to work hard to get better (who didn't know that?) and if we did, we would have a successful future as shinobi. _What the hell was a shinobi?_

After Iruka (he told us his name afterwards) finished his brief speech, he started calling out names for Room 1. 2 of the other orphans got called, leaving me and and a blonde kid with goggles on his forehead as the only orphans left. I saw that most of the kids with wierd looking parents had stayed as well.

"Aren't you excited, Kabocha-san? We get to be in the same room together!" The blonde said gleefully. I glanced at him, silently trying to guess what his name was. He looked like a Nick or Blake. Speaking of which... Why was my name Kabocha-san? I was used to my real name, Teagen, a sophomore in high school. Why was I entering something called The Academy? While I'm at it, why was I so tiny? What happened to my 6'1 height?

"Woohoo," I replied dryly, plastering on a small smile. He lost interest quickly when the rest of the kids (including us) assigned to Room 2 entered the Academy, leaving their parents behind. We all followed Iruka into the structure, some kids talking loudly and others staying silent. After being seated in our new classroom, Iruka had us come up to the front of the room and introduce ourselves. Noticing that the kids said their last names first, I was intrigued. So we were somewhere in Japan? I'll figure it out.

The class resembled a regular high school classroom. I put my lunchbox on a desk and sat down. Seeing as how the blonde guy was sitting by me and seemed to know me, I assumed he knew my last name too.

"Hey," I said quietly, poking him. He looked at me with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, Kabocha-san?" The teacher was going by rows and he was on the second one. This guy and I were on the fourth and fifth one.

"How do you think you spell my last name?" I asked. It was a simple trick I had learned in freshmen year. I had kept forgetting everyone's name, so rather than asking what their name was again, I just asked how to spell it.

"Huh? You've told me before. Why would you think I'd forget?" He asked, confused. The kid with a short brown ponytail a seat in front of me turned his head away from us, yet to where his ear was facing me. I knew when someone was eavesdropping.

"I just wanted to see if you remembered, silly." I added the last part to seem as though we were friends and this was an everyday thing. The kid with the ponytail hadn't lost interest as I thought he would.

"Oh. Uh, okay. O-N-O," he answered, scratching his head. After giving a quick assurance that he remembered, I questioned everything in my head. Ono? Ono Kachoba-san? That was my new name? What happened to Texas? How did I get in Japan? Would my parents even realize it was me? What about volley-

"Next!" Iruka called. Noticing that the ponytail kid had just sat down, I got up and made my way to the front of the room, just as the others had done. Crap. I was too caught up in thinking, that I hadn't caught anyone else's name. What do I do, say my name first? Well this was an introduction and if they went differently than they do in America, than too bad.

Taking a deep breath, I mustered the courage to talk.

"Hi. I'm, um, Ono Kabocha-san and um," my voice faltered as I got quite a few curious looks from several kids and the teacher. Had I said something wrong? Already? Coughing, I resumed the introduction. "And I-"

My mind went blank. What was I supposed to say? The uncomfortable feeling of homesickness crept through me and the awkward looks weren't helping. I sucked at presentations in high school and I still do, despite having a changed look. I coughed again, trying to shake off the homesickness. _Think, Teagen. Use your head. Say a goal. Quickly, anything!_

"And I want to get strong." After the numerous pauses and coughing fits, I was more than sure I had secured my place as the _wierd_ one in class. Looking up at Iruka, he gave me a small smile. Knowing what that meant by many teachers before, I walked down the aisle towards my seat, face red and ears burning from embarrassment. I didn't make eye-contact with anyone and kept my gaze on the floor. When I arrived at my seat, I sat down quickly and tried to ignore the stares.

I wanted to cry. My name wasn't Kabocha-san, it was Teagen Wells. I was not an 8-year old. I was 15. I wasn't in an elementary school, I was a sophomore in high school. I wasn't an orphan, I had-

My bottom lip started to quiver. I quickly lowered the bottom part of my head onto one of my arms, to seem like I was tired. It wasn't enough. I had started to sniffle too. Trying to pass it off as a cough wasn't easy. I had to force myself to really dig deep down and hack as though something was stuck in my throat.

"Are you okay, Kachoba-san?" Iruka asked, concerned. I realized my hacking fit had drawn everyone's attention. I nodded my head and avoided everyone's gaze. The asshole in front of me had turned around 180 degrees and was staring at my probably tomato red face.

"Yes sir. I have a sore throat though," I replied quickly, adding a cough for good measure and wishing I could dissapear. I guess he notice my miserable expression, because he said I could go get a drink in the hall. Quickly thanking him, I hurried out to the hall and closed the classroom door.

Not one second had I closed the door, that wet, hot tears appeared on my cheeks. I didn't groan or make any sound when I cried, except for a couple of high pitched draws of breath. I moved away from the door, not wanting anyone from that class to hear me. Sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway, I wiped my face of tears with my hand and got rid of the snot via shirt.

I thought the waterworks had dried up when a new thought entered my head. _Volleyball_. From my throat burst forth a new wave of sobs and from my eyes, a new batch of tears.

Before I had started playing volleyball, I had played basketball. In basketball, my right knee had major issues known as patella (kneecap) disfunction. The patella kept going out and I switched to volleyball because I hated the running. The knee problem kept getting worse and worse until it didn't always happen by me jumping; I simply had to turn my leg and it would pop right out. And it always hurt too. All my body weight would go down on the dislocated knee and it hurt like hell. Soon though, my tears of pain became tears of frustration as I watched my team play; always from the sidelines.

That's why I got surgery. The docters put in multiple metal screws and I had to go through 7 months of rehab before I was even remotely ready to start playing again. I got cleared just as club tryouts started; I missed school ball during that season. I went to tryouts and surprisingly made a team.

My tears soon dried and I started fanning myself, trying not to seem as though I had just cried my heart out. When I deemed myself presentable, I walked back in the room and sat down, this time looking straight forward. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a few glances thrown at me; whether out of concern or curiosity, I couldn't tell.

Iruka had finished telling us what chakra was and how it flowed through everyone. Did that mean I had chakra too? What kind of school was this? I needed a map; pronto dente. I needed to see where the closest police station was. Well... Maybe the nearest American Embassy. Or at least that's what the movie, No Escape taught me. I think they were right. If I was out of the country, I needed to find an American Embassy. Was there one in Japan? Wait...

If I was in Japan, how could I speak Japanese?

Whatever. That was a question for another day. I had plenty to worry about. Alright... Maybe I should make a checklist.

1) I could speak Japanese.

2) I'm an 8-year old girl. (At least I think I'm 8)

3) Find an American Embassy

4) How did I end up in Japan?

5) Would I be able to make it back to America before club season starts?

The list went on and on, but my main concerns were 3 and 5. I had worked so hard to get my spot on the team, even if it wasn't the best team, I had still made it. Also, to get back to America, I needed a passport and help from Americans. I was fairly sure that people here would probably mug me if told them I was American. Even though I was a sophomore, I wasn't stupid. I had seen enough movies and looked through enough stories to know that being out of your home country without knowing why was really, _really_ bad.

For some reason, the time had escaped me and before I knew it, it was lunchtime.

Instead of getting up to leave the room, I stayed sitting. The blonde guy asked me if I was okay and after reassuring him everything was cool, he smiled and told me to meet him outside. How did he know me? I probably invaded someone else's head, because this life definetly wasn't mine. I wonder if my parents knew I was gone.

When everybody filed out, Iruka was about to leave when he saw me sitting down.

"Is there something you need, Kabocha-san?" He asked, mild worry laced in his voice. _He's a teacher. It's his job to be worried._ Getting up, I nodded.

"Can I see a map of the world?" I asked, quietly. His face flickered in confusion, but the look quickly disappeared. Iruka walked up to the chalkboard at the front of the room and pulled down a map that was rolled up on top of it.

"The Elemental Nations," he declared, holding the bottom part so it didn't roll up. "Can I ask why you need to see them, Kabocha-san?" His voice fell on deaf ears as my eyes frantically searched for the familiar form of the United States. I couldn't find it though, because the entire map was taken up by one big land mass that I definetly didn't recognize. _This doesn't look like Japan._

 _"_ What continent are we on?" This threw him off. Instead of the calm demeanor he had before, now he looked worried and suspicious.

"What do you mean, Kabocha-san? We are in the Land of Fire." I shook my head slowly.

"No. No. Not that. I mean what continent? North America, South America, Europe, Asia? Know what I mean?" My hope to get home dropped when he shook his head.

"I've never heard those names before. What are you talking about, Kabocha-san?" My ears started pounding. This was a teacher. _A teacher._ And he didn't know what North America was. I muttered something and moved to collect my lunchbox.

"What did you say, Kabocha-san?" Iruka asked, removing his arm and letting the map roll back up.

"Nevermind. Thank you for letting me see the map." I made to exit the room and was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. Looking back, I saw it was Iruka was holding me by the shoulder and he had a serious face.

"Why were you crying?" He asked. I coughed, bringing on a faked pained expression.

"My throat hurt really bad." I probably shouldn't ask him how he heard me crying. The door had been shut. I made sure of that. I guess the excuse was good enough, because he removed his hand and gave me a cough drop from his drawers.

"You should probably have it looked at if it hurts that bad. I can take you to the hospital after school, if you want." At this, I stared at him long and hard. Something didn't add up. If I had a bad cough in America, I would go to the doctor's office. He offered to take me to the _hospital_. As if they didn't have docters' offices around here.

"Thanks for the offer, but I have things to do after school." The sentence didn't sound right, so I added a, 'sir' at the end. Now it was his turn to stare at me. He looked me directly in the eyes, as if doing so would tell him what was wrong with me. I remembered I wasn't a 15 year old girl anymore and wasn't supposed to have the courage to stare down a teacher; so I broke eye-contact and looked at my feet, shuffling them a bit.

"If your throat hurts anymore, you're going to the hospital. No use in having a shinobi who can't speak because she coughs too much."

"Thank you, sir," I replied, giving him a fake smile. He merely nodded in return and left the room, telling me to go outside and eat. Grabbing my lunchbox from my desk, I walked down the hallways of The Academy and outside.


	2. Naras

**AN: I think the first chapter was a good start. Sorry if there are any mistakes. Tell me what's up or how your day has been. I'm accepting 1 OC from anyone. Here's the template.**

 **Name: Sex: Appearance: Skills: Backstory:**

 **Leave me a PM if any of you have an OC. I'm planning on making the OC 8 years old, so keep that in mind. And if I don't get any requests, no biggie. I'll just keep writing. I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 2**

When I pushed open the double doors to go outside, I was a little confused. I saw a bunch of my classmates and some others, but there was no one watching us. Sure, we were surrounded by houses and shops in every direction, but that didn't mean someone couldn't kidnap one of us.

Everyone was hanging out under trees in groups or by themselves. I saw the blonde kid wave me over and carrying my lunchbox, I made my way to him. We were both sitting under a nice, shady tree, with lots of protection from the sun. I was guessing it was probably mid-summer or early fall. That's strange. Was this school a year-round school?

"So, what happened, Kabocha-san?" The blonde asked, taking a large bite out of his sandwich. Opening up my own lunchbox, I discovered I had the same thing with a bottle of water.

"I had some questions about chakra, so I stayed behind and asked the teacher about it." The lie rolled off my tounge easily. I developed the skill to lie in 9th grade, when I had to tell some of the teachers I had forgotten my homework.

"Oh," he said, mouth half-full with food, "well I'm glad you figure it out." We were silent after that. I ate my sandwich slowly, with sips of water in between. While I was contemplating how to get to know this kid's name, another thought hit me.

I missed volleyball. I wanted to hit, set, pass, scrape my knees up, whatever. I just wanted to get back in the sport again. Who knows how long I would be away? I needed to keep myself sharp and not let the skills that I'd almost perfected rust away.

"Hey..." I started, finishing my sandwich, "How do you spell your name again?"

"N-A-R-U-T-O. Why? Did you forget already?" He replied, irritating me. I took a deep breath and let it out.

"Yeah... Yeah, I forgot." I pondered my options in the village. It was obvious that there weren't any cars, so there probably wasn't any planes either. Although it was a big assumption to make, it was the only assumption I could make for travel. Maybe, like the people hopping from roof to roof, we ran and hopped everywhere? That brought up another point.

"Hey, Naruto." I tested the name on my tounge. It seemed alien and strange to pronounce, like trying to pronounce Mary Poppin's giant word* for the first time. "What do you think it means to be a shinobi?" I was clueless as to what a shinobi was, so I had to ask this guy.

"Hmm..." He pondered it. "Being a shinobi is protecting your loved ones, even if it kills you. I'm going to have to be a great shinobi if I want to become Hokage one day. And I will, believe it!" He ended it with a shout, drawing a few glances from a couple kids, but then they ignored it.

"That's great," I dryly stated. So I was in a school where they trained us to become soldiers? For what, this village? Also, what was this village's name anyway? And why did it need an army? So many questions, so little answers.

I guess I was an orphan now. And I had to live the orphan way of life? Yuck.

Pretty soon, Iruka had called us back inside, but we didn't go to the classroom. He told us since we were training to become shinobi, that we would have to get strong. I guess getting strong meant running, because that's what we did. It wasn't just any regular running though. He had us run with everyone and we were all being timed.

The track we ran on wasn't very big, maybe a little smaller than your standard high school track. Before we ran, he told us to stretch well, listing off the reasons of what could happen if you didn't. Pulled hamstring, torn ACL, I've heard it all.

We started. Back in my old life, I was 6'1 and muscular. But in this life I was tiny and my muscles were almost non-existent. The change in pace was outrageous and it threw off everything I was used to. I was used to running a mile without a sweat. Now? Now I could barely keep up with the group. I guess this body had never run before.

"Hurry, Kabocha-san," Iruka called from the sidelines, glancing at his stopwatch every so often. Gritting my teeth, I willed my muscles to go a little further, give a little more. Naruto was in the middle of the pack, while I was still in last behind some girls.

I tried I really did, but- Yoda's voice interrupted my train of thought as I remembered a phrase my dad used any second he could.

 _Do or do not, there is no try._

I ignored the pain. I ignored the scorching sun beating down on the back of my neck. I ignored the stinging sensation of sweat dripping in my eyes. No. It was just me and the girl with blue hair in front of me.

 _She'll take your spot on the team._

At this thought, my legs started working faster. I breathed harder. I pushed myself. Nobody would be taking my spot on that team. I earned it. Even though I knew my inner thoughts weren't true, it was something to keep me going.

I had passed her, much to her dismay. Now it was the ponytail kid. He was a couple of feet in front of me and didn't seem to be trying to hard. As I tried to pass him, I crossed the finish line, just as Iruka called time. He told us to get a drink and then come back as soon as possible. Picking up the water from my lunchbox nearby, I drank greedily, but managed to save some of it.

"Saw you tried to pass me," someone said. Whirling around, I was met with the sight of the ponytail guy.

"Yeah, so?" I responded. I honestly didn't know how to respond to that. It's what we're supposed to do, right?

"So nothing. Good try." He was so laid back and nonchalant about the whole thing.

"Thanks... I guess." I put the almost empty bottle of water back in the lunchbox and picked the lunchbox up.

"My name's Nara Shikimaru," he said politely. Didn't we get that at introductions? Why was he telling me his name when it appeared as if I already knew it? He was probably suspicious of me asking Naruto how to spell my last name earlier. After all, who has trouble spelling Ono? Was he testing me? Trying to see if I was sharp and would catch on? Trying to see if I was stupid? Ah. So he was judging my wit.

Well, let's see. Back in high school, if you were smart, you were great. Here, I didn't know the rules yet. Did I want myself to be noticed, at all? I'm from an orphan, so maybe this is my only chance to gain more friends here, besides Naruto. Then again, maybe they were friendly to orphan kids? I didn't know the rules here. I bet I was overthinking things and jumping to conclusions.

"Ono Kabocha-san." His eyes narrowed a little bit and his face took on a confused look.

"Why did you put an honorific on your own name?" He asked, studying my face. Ah. So that was why everyone was looking at me wierd. I remember from World History, that Japan and China used honorifics to show respect. I gave a chuckle to laugh it off, making sure not to meet his eyes.

"I dunno. First day jitters, I guess." He scrutinized my face once more, before looking up at the sky.

"Troublesome." With that, he walked towards where Iruka was. What did he mean, "troublesome"? Was I too stupid for him? Was the first day jitters to troublesome? He gave me mixed vibes. One thing was for sure: that 8 year old boy had been testing me. Trying to see if I'm some sort of genius or something. I know I had a couple slip-ups with the honorifics, but people don't typically remember someone who doesn't draw attention to themselves. Seeing as how he was 8, and 8 year olds definetly shouldn't be testing others dissecretly, I concluded that he was a genius. I would have to watch that.

I noticed that everyone had left for Iruka and I was alone. I carried my lunchbox to where they all were and set it down. As I stood up, I noticed what Iruka was holding. A knife? Were we dissecting something? On the first day? It wasn't your everyday scalpel or a regular kitchen knife. It was shaped like an isosceles triangle and had a loop on the base of it.

"This is a kunai. Over the course of the years, you will learn to hit a target with it. It serves as a weapon against enemies and has other uses too. Listen carefully." As he began to instruct us how to stand and how to throw, my mind was focusing on something else.

Did he say hit a target? We had to take down an enemy with _knives_? What happened to guns? What happened to nuclear warfare? What happened to missiles? Where was I?

I opened my mouth to ask about guns, but closed it. Maybe I was somewhere where I shouldn't even know what a gun was. A place like North Korea. My blood ran cold. I hoped I wasn't in North Korea. Wait. Iruka said something about the Land of Fire and The Elemental Nations, right? I was probably in those places.

The question was, should I even pay attention to this? Throwing knives? That's what you see at a circus or something and I don't know if I was comfortable with that. In the end, I decided to learn. So I payed close attention to what he was saying. Afterwards, he had us try it a few times.

I threw the kunai half-heartedly. I wasn't feeling it. After a breakdown in the middle of class and the realization that these people didn't know what guns were, I felt sick. No modern technology. No phones. No cars. The lack of sounds that planes usually give off frightened me. If they believed in stuff called chakra, that was their deal, not mine. I would get strong again. Stronger than my last body had been.

But I also wanted to leave. Since there were no planes of any sort, I needed to create my own way out. I wasn't going to stay put while someone else filled in for me on the volleyball team. No way. But _how_?

A few minutes later, Iruka came by and corrected my form. After, he gave me tips on throwing and then left. Teachers generally have to teach more than one student, so that made sense.

After an hour of throwing, Iruka dismissed us. Naruto and I grabbed our lunch boxes and made our way through the village. The other orphans would just have to catch up.

"Hey, Kabucha," Naruto said suddenly. I looked over at him, noting how he dropped the -san.

"Yeah?" I didn't want to pronounce his name again, so I left it off.

"Wanna pull a prank?" He asked, grinning from ear to ear, as if he expected me to say yes. A prank? A prank on who? Instead of asking "who?" I brushed it off. I would have to get used to this type of lifestyle.

"Maybe tomorrow. I want to walk around first." I needed to get a good feel for what this place was like. Maybe I could find a library and research this "Land of Fire" and "Elemental Nations."

"Oh, okay. See you later, Kabucha!" He ran off, leaving me alone. Maybe we had been in the orphanage together for so long, that we had gotten to know each other better? Whatever. Not my problem.

The sun was slowly dropping from its position in the sky, so I figured I would have to get a move on. I think as an orphan, I had a curfew.

Walking around the village, I realized how big it all was. There was a large building in the center of the village, no doubt the Chief's hut or something, and there were carvings on people's faces in the side of a mountain. It immediately reminded me of Mount Rushmore, even though I hadn't been there. It was still nice to see something resemble something in America.

Quickly growing bored with seeing just trees and dirt, I made my way into a shop that said, 'Weapons.' Looking around, I noticed this place sold swords, kunai and other neat little trinkets. I wonder where I could find a place that sold volleyballs? I doubt they had an Academy here, seeing as how I couldn't even find a Dairy Queen or McDonald's. I walked up to the front desk and looked at the guy standing behind it. He looked just like any other middle aged guy in this town and they all looked the same.

"What can I do for you?" He asked, looking down at me. I missed my height.

"Can you tell me where I can buy a volleyball?" I must've mispoke or something, because he gave me the strangest look ever.

"What's a volleyball?" I sighed. Looks like I'll have to go about this the hard way.

"This is a weapons shop, right?" He nodded. "So if it's a weapons shop, than don't you craft things here too?"

"Yeah, so? Need me to craft you up a little sword?" I gave a fake laugh, trying to seem like a sweet little girl, but not give off the impression that I wanted to kill him.

"No, no. Can you craft a ball?" At this, the attendant looked disgusted.

"'Craft a ball?' Craft a ball?' I can craft any type of ball, kid. What kind of ball you need crafted? Volleyball, right? 'Fraid I don't know what that is, but if you tell me what it needs to be like, I can get started." I held up a hand.

"Before I order something, how much is it?" His smile stayed put. Maybe he wasn't scamming me.

"Free, for a kid. It's just a ball, right?" I nodded.

"Thank you, sir." He was about to say something else, when someone else walked in. It wasn't a very big shop, just the size of a coffee place off the street, so it was hard to ignore the bells chiming as someone else came in. Turning my head a little bit, I caught a glimpse of who it was. It looked like an old man because of the spiked up grey hair, but I didn't see any wrinkles. Sporting a metal thing on his head, like Iruka, he looked like a wierdo to me. He was also wearing a black mask that covered part of his face; who did he think he was, Michael Meyers?

"Ah, Kakashi. I have your order in back, let me finish up with this kid." If this guy knew who he was talking to... I took a deep breathe and let it out. No use in getting upset when someone else is watching.

"So, kid, what's this 'volleyball' like?" The shopkeeper asked, drawing me out of my thoughts. Turning my head back at the attendant, I forced a smile.

"Anyway," I started, turning back to look at the guy behind the desk, "it's a spherical ball that's about 2/3rds of a foot high and same distance wide. It's gotta be bouncy and can it be made of leather?" Having a regular old rubber ball wasn't going to get me any better at setting.

"Yeah, kid. Light or heavy?"

"Light. Light enough for me to..." It was obvious they didn't have volleyball here, so I couldn't say 'set.' "Um... Easily lift it over my head." The shopkeeper nodded and wrote some things down on a pad.

"I'll have it to you by tomorrow." What? So fast?

"That quick?" He scratched his head.

"I don't get a lot of requests to craft something up, so it's cool. Come by same time tomorrow and I'll have it ready." Nodding, I gave him my thanks and headed out the door. The man he had called, Kakashi, gave me an eye crinkle as I passed him. I gave him a fake smile. I wasn't happy to see any of these people. I wasn't going to start talking to strangers. I just wanted a volleyball.

My excitement to have a volleyball soon dissaparated as I realized I was lost. This place was huge. As the sun lowered into the sky, the crowd started thinning. I walked up to various people and asked them for directions, but when I told them where I wanted to go, they brushed me off. I guess most people here didn't have time for orphans.

Eventually, the sun had disappeared and only a couple of people were left in the streets. Most of them gave me mean looks, but I didn't care. I had to find the orphanage.

"Are you lost?" Turning around, I was met with the sight of someone who looked like Shikamaru, except... Older. He was a grown man and sported the same hairstyle as Shikamaru. He had one or two scars on his face, so I classified him as a thug. Taking a step back, I put a good distance between me and this guy. He seemed to notice my concern, because he held up his hands and gave a light chuckle.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Do you need help getting home?" Instead of answering, I asked a question.

"What's your name?"

"Nara Shikaku. And yours?" Wasn't this guy related to Shikamaru? That certainly explains the hairstyle.

"Ono Kabusha." He put his hands down and looked at me, like really _looked at me._ He was a little strange. Maybe he was a genius, like hi- That's probably where Shikamaru got his brains from.

"Where's your house, Kabusha-san?" _It's Teagen_.

"My house...? Oh!" I was thinking of my house in Austin, Texas. "No, sir. I'm an orphan. Sorry, I got distracted."

"Distracted by what?" I looked him in the eyes for a second. Was he snooping around, like his son? If so, he sucked at disguising it.

"The...uh. The stars. They look so pretty." He looked up and chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess they are. Come on. I'll take you to the orphanage." I felt joy and dread. This guy was definetly like his son. As we walked, it didn't take long for him to start trying to get information.

"What we're you doing out so late, Kabucha-san?" I glanced at him, but he wasn't looking at me. He was staring straight ahead.

"Um... I got lost."

* * *

"Didn't you ask for directions?" He asked. I fiddled with my hands. If I told him the truth, he would see how much everyone hated orphans. Maybe he already knew and was just- This was another test. I gave Shikamaru a stupid answer, should I give his dad a stupid answer too? Instead of lying, I told him the truth.

"I... I tried, but once they heard of where it was..." I trailed off. Might as well make it believable, right?

"I understand." Phew.

"You know... I've never heard of the Ono clan. Who were your parents?" _Teresa and Michael Wells._

 _"_ I don't remember." He looked at me with what I thought was sympathy. I wasn't sure if it was genuine or not; after all, he and his son were both sneaky. Soon after the conversation ended, we arrived at the orphanage made of stone.

"Thanks you for your help," Should I say sir? No... "Shikaku-san." He nodded and smiled at me.

"I'm glad to have helped, Kabucha-san. Before we part, do you know my son? You look to be his age. His name is Nara Shikamaru." Did he come to the conclusion that since we were the same age, that I somehow knew his son? What a quick assumption to make. But I didn't say it outloud.

"Yes, sir. He's in my class at the Academy."

"Ah. I hope you and him become friends, Kabucha-san. Good-bye." He left with a wave.

"Bye..?" That was strange. Anyway... I went inside the orphanage and was met with a worried Naruto.

"Where were you, Kabucha? I thought you got taken!" He yelled and was shh-ed.

"It's cool, Naruto. I just got lost." He put his hands on his head and smiled.

"Oh okay!"

"Shh!"

"Naruto, I think we need to go to sleep." He agreed with me and we both lied down on our respectful yoga mats. Instead of trying to go to sleep, however, the cogs in my mind were whirling.

Why had an 8 year old try to test me today? What happened to guns? Why did a little village need an army? Were there other villages? Could I reinvent a gun? Where would I get the materials for that? Would the volleyball that I ordered be as good as I want it to be? How did that old grandpa's hair spike up like that? What will I eat tomorrow? Who's filling in for me while I'm gone? Volleyball season starts soon an d I have to me there. I rolled over and started crying.

Where was my family?

* * *

*= **Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious**


	3. Coachable

**AN: I guess I'm not popular enough for OC's. You are all still welcome to give one though. If one is given, I'll incorporate them into my story. I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 3**

An entire week had passed before I got my volleyball. The shopkeeper had said it was an unusual demand and he hadn't been thinking about it at the time. But now I had it.

"What's that in your hand, Kabocha?" Naruto asked, giddily. We had just left the Academy and it was Friday. Smirking, I tossed the leather ball up and down a little. It hadn't been what I had expected, but it was a volleyball nonetheless; an old school volleyball. It was all brown, but that was the only part I minded. Everything else was perfect; the size, the shape, the feel, even the bounciness was right!

"It's a volleyball, Naruto." He scratched his head. We were both walking around in a clearing, doing nothing.

"What's a volleyball?" I stopped walking and turned to him.

"It's my life." I guess I had said this a little too seriously, because Naruto started yelling. Hitting him lightly, I snorted.

"Not like that, dingus."

"Oh... What do you do with a volleyball then?" After showing him what 'passing' a volleyball meant, he rubbed his head. He didn't really get it and walked away, telling me he was going to play a prank on Iruka. That boy was a mess.

 _"Bring your brooms, cause it's a mess."_ Marty Huggin's voice sounded in my head, making me smirk.

After Naruto left, I layed down and looked at the sky for a bit. My volleyball was resting at my side, tucked safely in my hand. Sigh. Life was terrible. It was terrible, yet I was calm. Even though it was calm, I had things to do. Before I got up, I made another checklist, since things had clearly changed.

1) Make a gun. If I was in a foreign nation without a weapon and they didn't have guns, by golly, _I_ was going to be the one with the upper hand. But I needed to figure out how. Guns required gunpowder, right? Maybe I should start there.

2) Locate some type of police force. I was guessing that since there were teachers, there was probably a government system around here.

3) Get a bag for the volleyball. Having to share a room with 12 other kids every night, I just couldn't trust anyone to not steal my volleyball; not even Naruto. The kid was one big goober and if I gave it to him for safekeeping, chances are it would end up in a volcano somehow.

4) Get strong. Iruka's a teacher and he didn't know where North America was. I tried telling myself that he wasn't that good at geography, but he was still a teacher, and teachers had to be smart. I needed to get strong ASAP to move around outside this village, because this wimpy 8-year old body wasn't going to cut it.

5) Get out of this army thing. I wasn't even sure if this was an option, but I had to try. Throwing knives wasn't going to do it if I wanted to kill someone. I'd rather struggle to make a gun than perfect throwing knives.

6) Get some money. I was 98.5% sure that the orphanage didn't have spare weights lying around, so I would have to scrape together what I could and buy some myself. After all, how was I going to get stronger without weights?

My checklist was done, for now. Getting up, I popped my spine, feeling all the aches go away as I heard cracks. Throughout the week, Naruto had given me a fairly good tour of the village. Why he didn't question my request for a tour, I'll never know. Maybe he _really_ is stupid.

Blatantly ignoring the stupid sun, (I'd also have to invest into some shades) I made my way to the library. I'm not talking about the Metropolitan library; no, this library was _huge_. The outside was small, but don't let that fool you. It was like the magical taxi off a show I saw; where it could fit 50 people in it, but it still looked like a regular taxi.

"Excuse me," an old, rickety voice said. Turning my head to the side, I saw an old lady behind a desk.

"Uh... Yeah?" I had just walked in and wanted to check out the library; I wasn't hurting anybody. She looked at me as if checking to see if some meat had gone bad or not.

"How old are you?" Maybe this library was weird; just like the rest of this strange village.

"Um, 8? Why?" She coughed and looked at me as if I was stupid. What did I do wrong?

"There are only sections of this library you can look at, missy." I couldn't tell if she was acting like a bitch on purpose or if this village didn't take younger people very seriously.

"Hehe. Sorry ma'am. Can you show me the sections?" I guess I feigned the act well, because she lost the bitch face and gave me a small smile.

"Of course, deary." She promptly got up and gestured for me to follow her. It must've been way back in the library, because it took us forever to get there. On the way to the section, I read some of the books or uh... Scrolls? It was a mixture of both, really.

The Art of Sealing: Vol. 3

Waves of Pain: An Introduction to Genjustu/Vol. 1

Taijutsu: Knowing When to Stop/Vol. 6

Just what kind of books were these? Genjustu? What was that? Also, what's Taijutsu? I was a little curious with the sealing thing though. Did it work like sealing air away and compressing pillows and blankets, like the commercials?

After informing me of what ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu were, the librarian left, leaving me with some teen standing in front of the beginning of a couple shelves.

"I don't need babysitting, you know."

"I'm not here to babysit you. I'm here to make sure that you don't go near the off-limits section." Even though that sounded like babysitting to my ears, I didn't push it, and turned around to get a feel for what I was given.

Taijutsu: Knowing Where to Start/Vol 1.

Taijutsu: Knowing Your Pace/Vol. 2

Taijutsu: Knowing How to Keep Up/Vol. 3

What? How was the introductory book for genjutsu in the out-of-bounds, but the first three volumes for taijutsu were in my section? Turning around, I asked the teen if there was some sort of mix up with the shelving.

"No. Almost nobody in Konoha goes past the basics of Taijutsu. They learn enough to keep them alive, run from place to place, hand-to-hand combat, that sort of thing. They put the genjutsu book in out-of-bounds because it drains chakra quickly if you don't know how to control it. It's especially dangerous for a beginner like yourself." Gee... So he believed chakra was real, too? I guess if you have books on it, then it must be real.

I left the library with my volleyball, the first and second volumes of taijutsu, and the first volume for chakra control. There were so many books over chakra control; nearly 30 volumes, so I just took the first one. I'm just glad the librarian gave me some bags. I put the books and the volleyball into three separate bags. On my way to the orphanage, I bumped into the blue haired girl I had passed on the track.

"H-Hey... Y-You're in my c-class, right?" She asked. Why was she asking? Didn't she know?

"Uh, yeah. Ono Kabucha. I didn't catch your name, sorry." Sometimes asking somebody how to spell it was a downright disgrace. How do you forget how to spell Ino? That brought quite a few stares.

"H-Hyuuga Hinata." Just now looking at her face, (I dropped the volleyball on accident and couldn't see it right away) I realized she was blind. But wait, how did she know it was me? Anyone could've bumped into her.

"Cool name," I said, awkwardly. It would be sociably weird to ask her to accompany me to the orphanage to drop the books off; we had just met!

"D-do you need help c-carrying t-those bags?" She asked shyly. Now that I thought about it, these bags _were_ heavy.

"Um, yeah sure. Thanks." I handed her a bag and we continued walking.

"So, um... Are you... Ya know..."

"Am I-I what, K-Kabucha-san?" I switched the bags to the other hands and sighed.

"Are you... Blind?" I squeked out, looking the other way. To my surprise, she actually _giggled_. I looked over at her.

"What's so...?" She recovered quickly and looked at me with an amused grin.

"N-no. It's my clan's kekkai-genkai, Byakugan." So... What was that? And why wasn't she stuttering? Maybe being comfortable with people helps her? I don't know.

"Ah, I see."

"K-Kabocha-san..." I looked over at her, seeing the faint blush on her cheeks. How and why was she blushing? She's 8.

"Yeah, Hinata-san?" Instead of answering right away, she looked at the ground, contemplating something. Is this what it's like being 8 again? I couldn't even remember, but I didn't think it had been _this_ bad. What's with all the shyness and shit?

"I-I," she mustered, "I w-wanted to i-invite you to my h-house... I-if that's a-alright?" I blinked. People here were definitely nicer in terms of friends. Back in high school, it was rare that I got invited to someone's house.

"Um..."

"I-I know t-his is s-sudden, but m-my father..." She looked like she wanted to melt away with how embarrassed she looked.

"Your father wanted you to make new friends?" She nodded.

"S-something like t-that." She watched my face break into a grin.

"Sure!"

* * *

Instead of heading to the orphanage, we changed course and ended up at Hinata's place.

"Your house is big." It was a traditional Japanese home. There were walls surrounding it and I doubted there was just one house on the inside. Those walls were big enough to fit at least 5 suburban homes.

"W-we call I-it a compound." _Compound_. That's the word.

"I can see why." The entrance was guarded by two guys with the same eyes as Hinata. The entrance itself was two big red doors with fancy gold designs on the perimeter of them. The two dudes bowed when Hinata stopped in front of them.

"Hyuuga-sama," '-sama.' Wonder what that meant? "Who is with you? The dirty one." Looking around, I didn't see anybody else. Whoa, whoa, what? I was the dirty one? Well... The orphanage lets us shower once a week and I hadn't taken mine yet. It was to cut back on costs.

"Um exc-"

"Pardon h-her. This is Ono Kabucha, m-my friend."

"Oh. You and your 'friend,' are expected to see your uncle, Hyuuga-sama. Also, we will take the bags to your room." Why did he say 'friend' like that? He put a little bit of emphasis on it, but I don't know why. They took the bags from us.

"I understand," Hinata replied. The two guys opened the gates and we walked into the 'compound.'

Inside, it was as big as I thought it was. It looked like Hinata's family had their own library and building that looked like a gym. The rest looked like two-story hotels. Also, everyone here has the same eyes as Hinata and were walking back and forth between buildings.

Hinata and I didn't really say anything. I just followed her into the building that looked like the gym. Halfway into the building, we stopped in a gymnasium, in front of a tall guy with dark hair, like Hinata's.

"Hinata-sama, I see you have found your opponent." Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?

"Hold on. Timeout." I put my fingers in the timeout symbol that I saw coaches use. "Opponent? Are we about to throw down, Hinata-san?" They both gave me a strange look.

"T-throw d-do-"

"Fight. Are we about to fight?" I corrected. The guy nodded his head.

"Yes. And what is your name?"

"Ono Kabucha. Who are you and why am I fighting my friend?" Hinata's cheeks reddened when I said 'friend.'

"I am Hyuuga Hizashi. You're fighting Hinata-sama because she needs to measure her worth against someone outside the compound." This world was really weird. As if I didn't have enough on my plate, I had to fight Hinata? What the hell?

"Do I have a choice in the matter?" I asked. He scoffed.

"This fight will not last long." What did that mean? Did he just imply that itty bitty Hinata was able to whip my ass?

We took our stances in the middle of the gym. Mine was more from foot to foot, trying to stay light on my feet. I knew I didn't have any fighting skills. I knew that, but I needed to try. Think. _Think Teagen_. What could I do to stop Hinata? My mind overflowed with ways to cause pain or help me win.

Break fingers. Break toes. Pull hair. Poke eyes. Kick boobs. Kick the back of her knees. Elbow her in the face. Stomp her feet. Most of the moves I knew were from WWE...

Maybe I could RKO her, if I was lucky.

"Begin." The guy stayed near the wall, staying out of the way.

I stayed in my place, bouncing from foot to foot, fist up, thumbs out. Hinata rushed at me immediately and aimed a palm-strike to my shoulder. Since it looked more like a slap than a punch, I didn't dodge it.

I regretted that.

A quick, sharp pain pierced my shoulder and my right arm went slack. I couldn't move it. After this quick realization that something was up with her hands, I avoided them at all costs now. Her other palm came up and she aimed it at my other arm, but I stepped back, right arm flopping like a noodle. Would she aim for the same arm twice? Since I had no answer, I assumed she wouldn't, seeing as how you can't bring pain to someone who couldn't feel it.

I swung my body around and smacked her across the face with my right floppy noodle arm. With a grunt, she stepped to the side and put a hand to her face, putting most of her weight on her right leg. I wasted no time and stomped as hard as I could on her right foot, then stepped back, staying out of her reach. The pain from the stomp brought her attention away from her face and instead of a hurt expression, now she looked mildly irritated.

Her left leg connected with my ribs, sending painful jolts through my body. They weren't broken, but they were definetly bruised. If they were broken, I would've been crying. Her kick had shifted my evenly distributed weight to the left foot, causing me to fall to one knee and leaving my side open for more attacks. I rolled over to the side and scrambled to my feet.

"Byakugan!" She shouted, and veins bulged on the outside of her eyes, effectively grossing me out.

"What did th- Whoa!" I started to ask, but was inturrupted by Hinata acting like Sonic. Her punches or palm-strikes, came at me rapidly. I grabbed my right hand's wrist with my left hand, and lifted my right arm to shield my chest. I didn't want my heart or liver to be affected by these weird Kung-Fu strikes. After about 3 or 4 failed palm-strikes to my right arm, she aimed a high kick to my head with her left leg. Seeing my chance, I quickly stepped into the empty space where her left leg had been, and punched her behind her right knee. Since she had been standing up to throw the kick, the effect was immediate, and Hinata's body gave out.

I stepped back, not wanting her to fall on me. She fell on her back, since her right leg was bent all the way to her butt and her left leg was extended straight out in front of her because of the failed kick. I quickly scrambled on the fallen Hyuuga, pinning her hands above her head with my left arm and applying pressure to her right thigh with my left foot so she couldn't extend the leg. My other leg was holding her straightened left leg.

"That's quite enough," Hizashi said from his place on the sidelines. I got off Hinata and helped her up. "I'm sorry for smacking you and stomping on your foot," I apologized.

"It's o-okay, K-Kabocha-san. I'm s-sorry for n-numbing your a-arm," she replied sincerely.

"Thank you for fighting Hinata-sama, Ono-san. I can see her weaknesses clearly now." What do you say to that?

"You're welcome?"

"How did you know to kick the back of her knee like that, Ono-san?" Hizashi asked, watching me like a hawk. I glanced at Hinata and saw she was looking at the floor.

"Well," I started, looking back to him, "When people straighten their legs, they put lots of weight on them, generally unbalanced than someone with bent legs. Since the knees are the only things allowing you to bend your legs, kicking them would cause your balance to become uneven, if you're not expecting it. I'm not very good with explanations bu-"

"It's okay. Thank you for sharing," Hizashi said, cutting me off. "Although I was evaluating Hinata-sama, I saw weaknesses of your's as well, Ono-san. Would you like me to share?"

"Yes, sir," I replied. This guy was okay.

"I could tell by the palm-strike to your right arm that you were not aware of the Hyuuga style of fighting. I suggest you become educated on several clans' techniques, because knowledge will help you survive, if you use it to your advantage correctly. Also, I saw you assume that Hinata would not strike you twice in the same spot. While your assumption was correct, it was a big one to make. Don't ever assume something about your opponent until you know for sure," he finished.

"Yes, sir. Thank you for telling me. I will work on what you said." I probably sounded like I was sucking up or whatever, but the truth is, to get better you had to be coachable. Being coachable meant having an open mind and actually listening to what people told you was wrong. After a while, when people said the same thing 4 or 5 times to you, they would just stop saying it and assume you didn't want to listen. I had to catch everything the first time, and really push myself to improve.

After hanging out with Hinata for an hour afterwards, I took my bags, thanked her, then left. I dropped the bags off at the orphanage. It turns out, every other Friday, we were given 500 ryo to spend. After seeing the price of a regular toothbrush was 1,000 ryo, I guesstimated the conversion from US dollars to ryo was $1.00 to 100 ryo, since the cost for a toothbrush in the US was around $10.

I decided to save my 500 ryo. After all, the orphanage provided us with breakfast, (a granola bar) lunch, (a sandwich) and dinner (a sandwich). I didn't really need to buy anything. According to Taijutsu: Knowing Where to Start, I shouldn't buy weights until I could run around my village three times without breaking a sweat. That may or may not be right, because this book didn't look printed at all; it looked like somebody had written the entire thing.

Also, weights were expensive. I had gone back to the same weapon shop where I had gotten my volleyball, and saw that 5 lb (2.268 kg) weights were 2,500 ryo ($25).

In the end, I decided that I was probably going to spend my money on making a gun. Speaking of guns, I needed to start thinking about how this was going to work.

Okay. Start small. Guns were plastic, right? So my theory on exploding gunpowder to get the bullet to shoot, probably wasn't right, since plastic could blow up easily. Maybe guns were made of metal? Yeah, metal. Gunpowder couldn't blast through metal very well, I think.

After a lot of thinking, I think I had it figured out. In movies, before someone shoots a gun, they pull something back, making a 'chk-chk' sound. The bullet was in the gun, locked and loaded now, with a controlled amount of gunpowder behind it. When you pull the trigger, it lit a spark and ignited the gunpowder, effectively shooting the bullet out. Although there would definitely be kinks along the way that needed to be sorted out, I think I've got this.

Smirking, I hid the ryo in my pillowcase; I couldn't have anyone stealing the money to make my gun. Maybe I would make a small investment into a wallet later on. And maybe some closed-toed shoes, too. I would probably be traveling to different places when I got into this army thing and I didn't want to have to dig stuff out of my smelly shoe.

This was my life now, and I would not let anything hurt me.

I would be doing the hurting.

 **AN: Sorry this chapter came out a little late, but I had a tough time writing it. I realize that my writing style is very choppy and straight to the point, but I'm trying to improve it to improve the enjoyment you get out of this story. However cheesy that may sound, it's true. Thank you to everyone that's read it so far! If you guys see any mistakes, can you please tell me? Thanks!**


	4. Remembering

**AN: First off, shoutouts to kani-leek-lover and koreanlover21873 for being the first to favorite and follow this story! Thank you for the favorite, follow and all the views! Also, Happy Holidays to everyone! I'm sorry about this late chapter; there are no excuses. I'm just lazy. This was originally supposed to be a story I wrote for fun, but since people like it, I guess I'll keep writing. Beware: If I get Fallout: 4 for Christmas, I may not upload chapters for a while. However, if I fail to upload a chapter a month from now, then agario has taken over. If that happens, send help immediately. I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 4**

The past two weeks had been a haze. It was all one big continuous cycle. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to the Academy, train, go home(to the orphanage.) My training regimen started with stretching, running a mile(1.609 kilometers,) doing 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, 3 sets of lunges from one end of the clearing to another, and I finished it off with a cool down mile. I did this everyday, religiously.

I had just finished my workout for the day and I still had some time to kill before I had to go to the orphanage. Getting up, I started walking towards town when I saw him.

 _Shia LeBeouf._

No, it wasn't Shia LeBeouf. Instead, it was a walking fashion catastrophe. This man was wearing a leaf green jumpsuit, made out of spandex material and he had on a lighter green vest over it. His black hair was fashioned in a bowl cut and to top it off, he had on orange leg warmers!

This was worse than Shia LeBeouf. I didn't mean that I didn't like Shia LeBeouf, I just mean tha-

"Hello, youthful child!" The man boomed. When he smiled, he went full out. It wasn't some sassy smirk; this man knew how to truly smile. I even saw a sparkle off his teeth with how white they were. I bet he practiced smiling in a mirror.

"Hi." _Running for your life, from Shia LeBeouf. He's brandishing a knife. It's Shia LeBeouf._ Great, now I had that song stuck in my head.

"I see that you practice here often! I'm proud to see such willpower within such a youthful person!" He yelled, even though we were like, 5 feet(1.524 meters) away.

"Uh... Thanks!" I replied. Did he not see other Academy students practicing? I never see anyone, but surely he must see some. "Any particular reason you're here, watching me?"

"Yes, indeed there is a reason! I notice you only practice taijutsu, why is that? Can you not perform ninjutsu?" He asked, curiously. I wish I had a gun right now; I didn't have enough money to order one, though I did have the blueprints ready to give to the weapons shopkeeper when I did get enough ryo. This guy was way too nosy for his own good. It might get him killed. In fact, a lot of people in this village were nosy. Just another reason for me to leave.

"Uh..." What should I say? Iruka have us a demonstration on how to mold your chakra, so I know it wasn't bullshit. "I don't think I should tell that to a total stranger. I'm not saying you're right though."

"Ah! I see! Such a smart and youthful person! I'm Might Guy, a jounin of Konoha! Who are you?" He yelled every word. _Every_ single one. Did he have hearing loss and thought he was speaking quietly? I settled on that assumption for now.

"Ono Kabucha. Are you really a jounin?" I asked, acting like the 8-year old I wasn't.

"Yes, yes I am! So, back to my previous question..."

"Oh! Um, I don't think I should try anything until my chakra reserves are bigger, you know? I don't want to die just yet. Hehe..."

"Oh! I see! You're very smart for your age, Kabucha-san! However..." I sighed. I knew someone would get on to me. "Have you been practicing chakra control exercises?" My mood went up. Maybe he wasn't getting on to me after all.

"Yep! I checked out a book from the library on chakra control."

"What exercise are you on?" He asked, quieter, yet with cheerfulness in his voice. _This man has no unhappy moments, does he?_

 _"_ Well, I did the leaf sticking exercise and now I'm on pebble sticking." Pebble sticking was actually a lot harder than leaf sticking. I mastered the leaf sticking in a week and mastering it required sticking a leaf to every open surface of skin and spinning them in different directions. I legit don't know how I mastered it though. I had no clue a month ago what chakra was.

"Yosh! Keep up the good work, Kabucha-san! Before I depart, do you want some new taijutsu drills? Lunges help tremendously and sit-ups and push-ups are okay, but you need to work on upper and lower body strength at the same time. Doing the same thing won't get better results." He was actually serious this time, and I was glad about that, because it meant he knew what he was doing and wanted to help me become better. Plus, those muscles of his really spoke to me. This guy knew taijutsu.

In the end, being coachable paid off.

The next day, I got to class early. I had memorized the route to the Academy long before, so I didn't need to rely on the group of orphans going together. I left my volleyball underneath my yoga mat at the orphanage, because I didn't want to lose it at school.

Anyway, class started at 8:00, so I got there at 7:45. My reason? I needed some friends. Just Naruto wasn't going to cut it. Ever since the orphanage served ramen one time for dinner, it was all he could eat. Ramen for breakfast, ramen for lunch, and you guessed it, ramen for dinner. I tried warning him about bad nutrition, but my voice fell on deaf ears. Oh well. Guess Naruto'll be short forever.

"Hey, you're that orphan girl, right?" I turned to who had spoken. Inuzuka Kiba. He had brown hair that stuck out everywhere and weird marks on his face. I never saw him without his dog, Akamaru.

Before I spoke, I glanced around the room. Uchiha Sasuke, Shikimaru and Hinata were all here too, along with some kid that wore shades and a trenchcoat everyday. "So?"

"So? So, you're here early! You're never here early." His outburst attracted the attention of the other kids.

"Who cares? I decided to be early." I took a seat next to Hinata. I guess Kiba realized how stupid he'd been, because he just grumbled and shut up.

"G-good m-morning, Kabucha-san," Hinata stuttered, giving me a shy smile.

"Morning," I replied. Neither one of us oursued conversation after that. Maybe because it was a Monday or the fact that it was cloudy; I don't know. People just aren't very outgoing on a cloudy day. I looked to see what everyone was doing.

Hinata was looking through notes, Shikamaru was looking outside(no surprise there,) Kiba was kinda sleeping, and Sasuke was staring straight ahead, like a creep. I still wonder why girls try to get his attention. Sure he had black hair and pale skin, but that was about it. If he had muscles like Guy, then I might be interested. But alas, he doesn't.

"How's the weather, Shikamaru?" I was bored and the weather didn't only effect my mood, it effected my entire persona.

"Gloomy," he mumbled, casting a lazy glance at me. I guess it effected his mood too. _Wait. Wasn't there someone else in here?_

I realized that there was. Looking over at Mr. Shades, I discovered he'd been staring at me. And he still was. What the heck? Should I call him out or what? Maybe he'd been staring at Hinata? I moved my head around and his gaze followed. Great.

"Hey, Hinata." She looked up at me from her notes.

"Y-yes, Kabocha-san?" I don't know why she still used honorifics with my name.

"What's that guy's name? The one that looks li-" I realized I couldn't compare him to Riddick, seeing as how that movie was nonexistent here, "The one with the glasses."

"O-oh. That's A-Aburame S-Shino." Shino, huh? Sounds like a punk.

"Thanks!"

"N-no p-problem, Kabocha-san." She went back to her notes.

I would have to see why Shino was staring. I know I hadn't gained any feminine attributes yet, seeing as I was 8, so that wasn't it. Maybe I smelled bad? Giving myself a quick whif, I deemed myself hygienically clean. I took a shower last night, too. So what was it? He was _still_ staring.

"Hey, why're you staring at me?" I finally asked.

"I apologize for my rudeness." And that was all he said. His voice was kind of deep though, so maybe he was really a grown midget that had been held back 20 years. After that awkward situation, the other students trickled in, none of them looking cheerful today.

It was a Monday.

5 or 6 girls always had high energy though. It was Sasukes admirers. I don't know if that's the word. Maybe stalkers? Fangirls? Yeah, they were his fangirls. The relationship between Sasuke and his fangirls was more of a one-sided relationship. Sasuke always ignored them and told them to leave him alone, but to no avail. His biggest fangirls were Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino.

Sakura had long pink hair and green eyes. She was always referred to by Ino, as 'Forehead.' I could see why. You could land the helicarrier on it.

Ino had long blonde hair and pretty blue eyes. Sakura called her 'Ino-pig' for some reason. Maybe she ate like a pig? I'll never know.

"Sakura! I got here first, so I get to sit by Sasuke-kun!" Ino yelled.

"Nuh uh, Ino-pig! I'm sitting back Sasuke-kun!" Sakura retaliated. I was tempted to walk up there and shove them both out of the way and state, 'No, I'm sitting by Sasuke-kun,' but that would draw unwanted attention; something I didn't want.

"Take a seat," Iruka said, shutting the door. Ino groaned and took the seat behind Sasuke, while Sakura sat next to him. Iruka went over basic chakra stuff that we learned last week. With how much we talked about chakra, I doubted we would learn anything else. The other classes; math science, reading, and history, were probably taught when we were younger, because he never went over that stuff. Well... I take it back. We go over history within the Elemental Nations once in a while. While I had to memorize all the Hokages, I went over stuff that was way more important in my head.

 _First moon landing, The Holocaust, the invention of the car, discovering the earth was round, the Latin language, volleyball, my family..._

Wait a minute... Did these people think the world was flat? During lunch break, I approached Iruka.

"Yes, Kabucha-san?" He asked, not looking up from grading papers.

"Is the world flat?" I was careful not to use the word 'earth,' because they didn't refer to the planet as 'Earth.'

"Um... Yes," he looked up from the papers, "Is there any confusion?"

"No... No. I was just curious, that's all." After waving goodbye to my teacher, I went outside and sat down. While eating my sandwich, I contemplated what I could do with this information. I could write a book on how Earth was actually round, and that there was 8 planets. That would probably earn me some money. Why stop there? I could write a book about the Holocaust, the first moon landing, America, Twilight. I shuddered at the thought of writing the last one. Well, if it sold well among moms in my world, maybe it would sell well with moms here? This was a great way to make money.

But wait. It would probably look strange if an 8 year old suddenly was the top seller. I needed to do something about that. Maybe I could wait until I was older? No. I needed money to make a gun _now_. Maybe I could publish it under someone else's name? That would probably work. But what name?

 _Nirogazi_

I'm a genius.

After the day was over, I copied down everything I remembered from various accounts on the Holocaust. Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas*. I only remembered those, because I read them in high school. All together, the entire 'book' was about 25 pages long; front and back. I had small handwriting though, so it ought to turn out as a really long book. I titled it, 'The Holocaust' by Nirogazi. I didn't only write it for money, I wrote it because the sheltered town of Konoha needed to see how terrible people can become.

Writing it took 2 hours and I had skipped training for it, so the sun was still in the sky. Sauntering off to the only publisher in Konoha, I gave it to an old man. After reading it, he said he would publish it. He seemed a little suspicious that 'Nirogazi' didn't show up to turn it in himself, but he let it go after I told him Nirogazi was sick.

"Does Nirogazi want a book cover or just a random color?" The old man asked. I thought about it for a second.

"Can it be black with a single string of white barbed wire cutting the book in half, horizontally?" After assuring me he could do that, I thanked him. He told me to come by every month to collect the money for Nirogazi for all the books sold. The selling process would start out with three books of it put in two bookstores in Konoha. If four of those sold, then he would print more and distribute them to different bookstores in Konoha. If 50 books were sold in Konoha, he would distribute them to different villages.

After getting all the details out of the way, I left the shop, with a new thought in my head. Did I do the right thing, writing about The Holocaust? I kept telling myself it was what the people of Konoha needed; they needed to know what it was like to not always have food, not always have safety, and that people turned on each other, even if they were family.

What if it actually sold? Would people want to meet Nirogazi? How would I do this? Would I regret this? Probably.

I wish I had wrote Twilight.

Maybe I should have sung songs to get money. Well, it wasn't too late. No. No way was I singing. I would just see how well my book idea went. Arriving at the orphanage, I settled on my yoga mat and set to myself with the volleyball. Even though I probably wouldn't get home, I wanted to retain what I once had. Since no other kids were here yet, I laid down and started singing Say It Ain't So by Weezer quietly, still setting my volleyball. It was almost like home.

Almost.

* * *

 _"Yeah yeah yeah!" I yelled. The setter on our court heard me calling and she set it to me. Oh what a set. Nice and high. Making sure to swing my arms, I took three quick steps towards the volleyball net and jumped. The other team didn't bother to block, seeing as how it was tryouts; those who didn't block didn't get a phone call later that night. The ball bounced in-between two back row girls half a second later. We rotated. I went to middle and everyone else shifted accordingly. Glancing at the coach to see if he saw my hit, I was confused._

 _Instead of the coach, it was Naruto._

I woke up with tears leaking out of my eyes. It had felt so real. I had been at tryouts again. The first time since the surgery that I had gotten to hit a volleyball. And it turns out it was just a dream and I was still an orphan and volleyball still didn't exist and Teagen Wells was Ono Kabucha and Austin, Texas was replaced with Konoha and Obama was replaced with the Hokage and I was training to be in an army I didn't want it be in.

I knew exactly what I would do with the gun once I got it.

 **AN: *The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is by John Boyne**

 ***The Diary of Anne Frank is by Anne Frank**

 ***Night is by Elie Wiesel**

 **By including the Holocaust, I don't mean to disrespect anyone or bring back bad memories. Like the story says, Kabucha writes it to show what the world can really be like, but she also wrote it to never forget what happened. I'm sorry if this offends anyone in any way, but I never meant to. On a brighter note, Happy Holidays!**


	5. Change

**AN: Thank you for the kind review, kani-leek-lover. Also, if anyone is bummed out by the last chapter, I have some somewhat funny poems up on my profile. Also, I believe this is my 5th time rewriting this chapter. Hope it makes it. I've always gotten to 500-1000 words and then I delete it all, because I'm not happy with how everything keeps turning out. Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 5**

 _$4 year$ later$_

It turn$ out that 'The Holocaust' wa$ a big hit with shinobi village$. I'm not going to $ay how much ryo I made off of it, but it wa$ a lot. Almo$t too much for me to count. In fact, that'$ exactly how much money I made. Too much.

I had ditched the open-toed sandals in favor of closed-toed ones(don't worry, they were by the same company, so it helped improve me not making a sound.) My outfit was way more classier than the grey shirt and shorts I had two years ago. They had been replaced by a green t-shirt, green shorts, and black leggings that stopped halfway up my thigh. I now had a weapon holder(it was actually a miniature fanny pack) on my left leg, and my beautiful long brown hair was now to my shoulders. Don't worry; it's layered.

I had finally grown taller,(Score!) stopping at 5'4. That's not bad for a 12-year old. I was still an orphan and still lived in the orphanage, while Naruto got an apartment. When I questioned him, he said that Jiji was the 'best ever.' 'Jiji' being the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, so I guess I couldn't complain.

About the whole gun thing. I never actually got a gun, but from a particular big mouth, (the weapon shopkeeper) I heard that the Hokage supposedly has one locked up in his office. Now, this little birdy had been wrong before, telling me that Shikamaru was gay and that Hinata had a crush on Naruto. I'm just kidding; that last one's true.

Since I never got a gun, I decided to weaponize my volleyballs. That's right. Volleyballs; as in plural. I got the shopkeeper that had made my original, to make 5 more just like it, leaving me with 6 volleyballs. My handling of the volleyball hadn't changed when I woke up as an 8-year old, so over a 4-year time span, my skills were perfected.

Anyway, how did I weaponize the volleyballs? I had the shopkeeper put several kunai facing outwards within the volleyballs, equidistant from each other. These kunai weren't normal though. Instead of having handles, they didn't have any; he did this to be able to fit them in the volleyballs though. Also, in the middle of every kunai was a tiny string leading towards the center of the ball. He purposfully put the kunai in, but not completely, leaving their tips half a centimeter outside the ball. Then, he put as much gunpowder in the center of the volleyball as he could.

My volleyballs were freaking bombs. He assured me that I would still have the original to play with, and I could use these in fights. $eeing as how I had a lot of ca$h, I could afford the$e bomb$, and I could afford to have them re$tocked. When I asked him how I was going to light them, the shopkeeper just laughed and said, 'Learn a jutsu.' Before I had left his shop, he gave me a storage scroll with them all in it and told me to pour a little chakra into it to get one of the bombs out.

I had to ask Iruka for the jutsu thing. He said to concentrate chakra to my hand and imagine it engulfing into flames. I did it, expecting 1st degree burns, but I got none. I guess chakra wasn't bullshit after all.

So... Today was the graduation test day for the Academy and all we had to do was to perform three measly Justus. How stupid was that? In high school, to pass a grade, you had to take finals in every subject, unless you could exempt them through a series of complicated requirements.

"Ono Kabucha!" Mizuki called. Getting up from my desk, I walked to the front of the class and was led to a different room. Iruka had gotten Mizuki as a teaching assistant during the 2nd year at the Academy. He actually resembled an old guy with his white hair. To this day, I still couldn't decide if it was white or a very very light pink.

"Hello, Kabucha-san," Iruka started. I nodded. Over the years, I had become a rather quiet and withdrawn individual. I liked to compare myself to Shino sometimes. The forgotten one. "Can you perform Bunshin no Jutsu please?"(Clone Jutsu)

I formed the correct hand seals and made sure to remember what Guy had told me. _"Don't force the chakra to flow, just... Encourage it."_ Encourage it, I did. My chakra system was messed up. It was like being in a dream with someone cute. You hoped they would smile at you, even if you had some to little control over it. In the end, it was the chakras decision on whether or not it wanted to flow; however messed up that may sound. Guy told me not to worry, because he had a student that couldn't use his chakra at all.

A doppelgänger resembling me stood right next to me. Mizuki stood up from where he was sitting by Iruka and inspected it.

"The hair is different. For some reason the clone has blonde highlights in her hair." I shrugged. That's what I had looked like before. "And she's also an inch shorter. What do you think Iruka?" At his name, Iruka sighed.

"It's passable. Next is Henge no Jutsu." (Transformation technique)

This time, my chakra did _not_ want to flow. It kept fighting my control, even though I had made the correct handsigns. I stood there, eyes closed and fingers in the 'ram' handseal.

"Well it see-" Mizuki started.

"Hold on. Give me a second, okay?" He nodded and looked at Iruka with a confused glance. They _both_ had confused expressions.

I formed the handseals again and stood there. My chakra was still being stubborn. Eventually, I acted like I didn't want to perform the technique and the chakra stopped refusing control. That's when my mind came down hard and I forced the chakra through my fingers. Looking down, I saw that I was in Mizuki's body now.

"Perfect," Iruka said, grinning while he checked something off his clipboard. Mizuki just nodded. "Alright, last one. Kawarimi no Jutsu." (Body Replacement Technique)

Ram, monkey, tiger, beaver, monkey. Ending on monkey, again, they had to wait. Manipulating my chakra wasn't like twisting it to what you wanted; no, it was like trying to manipulate a person. I won't use chakra for the next two days. After the 'deal' the chakra flowed freely and I had switched places with Mizuki, sitting in the desk next to Iruka.

"Pass." I accepted a blue forehead protected with a smile. After congratulating me, I walked outside and left Mizuki and Iruka to test the other kids. Laying down in the grass, I closed my eyes.

Who had to make a damn deal with their chakra to get it to flow? Me, that's who. Why was my chakra system jacked up? Why was it acting like a person, when it clearly wasn't? I felt someone sit down besides me and opened my eyes. Naruto; without a forehead protecter. I'm glad I kept mine in my pocket, because I didn't want to see him mine.

"Hey."

"Hey," he glanced over with a frown, "you didn't pass either, huh?"

"No, I passed. Sorry." He sighed, turning his head to look at the other people that passed.

"It's okay. It's not your fault, Kabucha."

"I'm sorry, Naruto. You practiced so hard too..." I lied. Truth be told, Naruto never actually practiced anything. All he had done during school was pull pranks on everybody.

"Naruto, can you come here please?" Mizuki called from the entrance of the Academy. Naruto got up with a sigh, said bye, and I was alone again.

How come I passed and he got an apartment? What the hell, Hokage?

I shifted the sealing scroll on my back that held my volleybombs uncomfortably. It was hard laying on it, so I stood up and took my forehead protecter out. Where to put it...? The waist, like Guy? In my hair, as a headband, like Sakura and Ino? Around my neck, like Hinata? Eventually, I settled for a headband. It looked fashionable, but serious. Also, it helped keep my wild curly-q's in place, seeing as how my high ponytail was unable to do that for me.

As I just stood there, contemplating what to do, I saw a couple kids leave the Academy. One of which, was Shino. He never talked to anyone and no one talked to him; not even me. Maybe I should be nicer? We were both loners, after all. Walking alongside him, I coughed.

"Um... Hi." He stared at me; I wasn't sure if it was awkward though. "I, uh, see you passed too... Good job."

"You, as well." Over the course of four years, his voice had stayed the same. Deep. Would it get deeper as he went through puberty? Would he have a deep voice, like Shaq?

"So, uh, who's team do you want to be on?" I asked. He didn't talk for a couple of seconds, just kept walking.

"I do not know who's team I will be on. What about you, Kabucha-san?" I tapped my fingers together.

"That's a tough one. If I had to pick... I would pick Hinata."

"Why?" He said briefly after.

"Well... She's my friend and I trust her, you know? Plus, can you imagine being on a team with anyone else? She's quiet, patient, and she can fight. Who wouldn't want her on a team?"

Shino didn't say anything; he merely nodded.

"So, uh, who do you not want on your team?" I asked, randomly. I was trying to carry on conversation.

"Kiba," he said immediately. That was quick.

"Why not Kiba?" I asked, intrigued.

"Kiba is loud and... Irritating. I don't particularly enjoy loud noises." Ah. From what I read, Shino's clan was made up of insects. I had taken Hizashi's advice and read up on the big clans in Konoha. Aburame didn't fall under 'big,' but I wanted to know what Shino's secret was; so I read.

"Ono-sa-"

"Call me Kabucha. Only adults call me by my last name," I inturrupted.

"Kabucha-san, why did you seek out my companionship?" He asked, still walking. Actually, where were we going? Oh well. I'll find out when we get there.

"Us loners have got to stick together, Shino-san." I didn't really see his reaction due to a trenchcoat and a pair of Riddick sunglasses, but I bet he smiled or something. People usually do that when people use that line on them. Then again, I just called him a loner. Maybe he didn't like that or maybe he knew he was a loner and didn't want to except it. The possibilities were endless with Shino.

"Where are you headed, Shino-san?" I questioned. Maybe he was celebrating with his dad or something.

"To my home." He answered, looking ahead. We had walked about half a mile away from the Academy now.

"Oh, okay. I'll leave you alone then." I turned my feet slightly to the left, departing from Shino's route. I didn't want to intrude on him celebrating with family, so I left. Even in this life, I retained my mannerisms. What should I do to celebrate? _What to do? What to do?_ Hmm. Maybe I could go out to eat? Was I even old enough to do that?

In the end, I decided to go talk to the weapons shopkeeper. I needed to learn his name. Making my way into his shop, I was met with the familiar site of the same guy that had supplied me with weapons for the past years.

"I take it you passed then?" He stated, seeing my smiling face.

"Yep!" He chuckled.

"I'm glad." After looking at the weapons, I finally asked his name.

"My name is Senyu Temou. Did you really not know my name for all these years?" He asked, amused.

"Nah. I just never bothered to ask." After I finally figured out his name, we discussed what happened throughout the day to both of us. After knowing each other for years, I guess we were friends. Plus, Temou had made all my weapons; so why shouldn't I be nice to him? He never questioned where I got all my money, he made me my original volleyball for free, and he weaponized the volleyballs, even though each one took a week to finish.

"How's that storage seal holding up? Have you had to use any bombs yet?"

"It's holding up good. Do seals normally break down after a while?" I replied. I wasn't the seal expert, and I don't think he was either. In fact, I think Temou gets _other_ people to seal stuff for him.

"I've just heard rumors about seals going wrong, that's all. I didn't want it to give out after three missions."

"Thanks for the concern. And I haven't had to use any bombs yet. I think you would probably know if I had." Temou gave out a hearty laugh; a change of pace from his usual chuckles.

"You're right. Can I give you a word of advice, Kabucha?" Nodding, I listened closely. Advice from anyone could be good or bad; it's the way you see it.

"Stay away from unstable people. If they look crazy or act strange, do questionable things for questionable reasons, don't stick around. I'd hate to see you come back from a mission in pieces." Temou actually looked worried. Of course he'd been worried before, but this time, he was worried-serious.

"It may be part of my mission to face unstable people, Temou. I can't change that; especially if I'm expected to put the village first. I signed up for this, so I can't deny that there are going to be tough things to do, tough calls to make. I also don't want to come back to the village in pieces." He sighed and started cleaning bloody kunai that someone had probably dropped off earlier.

"Me too, Kabucha. It's just... I've seen so many reckless kids out there, willing to go to war for their village; willing to die. And you know what? They've all been in the same position you're in. I'd know them for years and on their first 'big' mission, they'd come back as a corpse, either getting dragged by someone or sealed up in a storage scroll. I know this sounds unobtainable, because you're a kid, but try not to do anything reckless. You'll be grateful in the long run." I felt like those playable characters from the game, Walking Dead, that got bits of advice on how to stay alive.

"Thanks, Temou." With that, I left his shop with a new bit of advice to apply to my life. It's about those coachable moments; either you listen, or you don't.

Back in his shop, Temou sighed again, looking at the bloody kunai in his hands.

"Don't come back in pieces, Kabucha," he said to no one.

Outside, I thought over what Temou had said. _"Don't come back in pieces."_ Was that a common occurrence in Konoha? Was it a common occurrence everywhere? Now I knew what had to happen. If I didn't want to get killed, I had to figure out what was going on with my chakra. The slightest hesitation could get my killed and I would go back to the village in pieces. My heart started beating fast.

It was beating like it would before a volleyball game. Nervous; anxious. I took lots of deep breaths. _Relax. You're not going to die on your first mission, Teagen._ Somehow, refering to myself as 'Teagen' helped me calm down. Maybe it was mental stress? Physical stress? Well, whatever it was, I needed to calm down, because I wasn't going to die.

Not quite yet.

Seeing as how the sun was going down, I made my way back to the orphanage calmly. When I lied down on the yoga mat, I could only wonder what everyone else from my class was doing. Were they out celebrating with their parents? I know graduating 9th grade hadn't really been a big deal, but for some reason my parents had insisted that we celebrate.

What about team assignments? Like Shino, I also didn't want to be grouped up with Kiba. If I got Hinata on my team, I would be ecstatic. Maybe Shino wouldn't be _too_ bad to have on a team. He was quiet, like Hinata and I liked that. I liked quietness. Sasuke was quiet, but I just didn't see him as being a vital asset to any team, at all. Sure he was an Uchiha and he had the Sharingan, but besides that and his strength in taijutsu, he was dead. I had beat him in taijutsu more times than none. His lack of a positive attitude would probably get him and his team killed.

It sounds silly, but attitude is key. Shikamaru has a laid back attitude, but he has that shadow stuff going on, so I guess he could get away with it. Chouji was sometimes positive and other times, he was quiet. He was cool. I definetly didn't want to be stuck on a team with Sakura and Ino. Once they got started fighting, nobody could stop them.

I rolled over and went to sleep.

 **AN: I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I rewrote it about 3-4 times and it was a frustrating One. I don't know when I'll get the next chapter out, probably next week, so I tried to make this one slightly longer. Happy Holidays!**


	6. Team

**AN: I'm back from vacation! Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and that nobody got hurt on Black Friday! Thank you again, kani-leek-lover, for the kind review! Thanks for all the follows, reviews and views! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 6**

Today was different. Today, I would be placed on a genin team selected by the Hokage. _The Hokage._

At first, I thought the way that it was set up was strange. You go to graduate from the Academy and are placed onto teams that you don't get to choose? That's a lot different than volleyball. In volleyball, you show off your skills, and whoever wants you, gives you a call. I didn't dawdle on the difference, seeing as how I could earn money from completing missions.

I left the orphanage with a spring in my step. Usually, we were placed into teams of three, but 10 of us had passed. I'm guessing the Hokage was probably going to make 2 two-man teams and 2 three-man teams, or 2 three-man teams and 1 four-man team.

I had on my forehead protecter as a headband, my weapons pouch around my right leg, and my storage scroll on my back. Given that it was half the size of my arm, it wasn't very hard to carry around.

When I arrived at the Academy, I took my usual seat by Hinata.

"Good m-morning, Kabucha-san," she greeted, nicely.

"Morning, Hinata," I said, smiling a bit, "Are you excited about the team selections?"

"Y-yes." After saying I was equally thrilled, we left each other to the other's thoughts. Looking around, I saw that Kiba, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru had also passed. No Naruto, much to Hinata's dismay.

"Sorry I'm late!" Naruto shouted, waltzing in the room. What? Yesterday, he said he had failed. But the counter-evidence that had replaced his goggles had changed that. A forehead protecter.

"You're supposed to come today if you passed," Kiba stated. Looking besides me, to gouge Hinata's reaction, I was amused. Her face had gone red and she was smiling a little, while muttering Naruto's name.

"Look at the forehead protecter, genius. I did pass." Naruto pointed to said object on his forehead. Kiba grumbled and laid his head down, muttering about 'mix-ups.' Naruto sat on the other side of me, talking non-stop.

I was halfway through the Star Wars theme song, when Iruka walked into the room, carrying a scroll.

"Alright, I have the team selections." At this, everyone sat up a little bit straighter, minus Shikamaru, who was probably going to have back problems later in his life, because of him slouching a lot. I didn't pay any mind to the other teams; I only cared about my own.

"... Team Ten: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, and Ono Kabucha. The jounin sensei is Sarutobi Asuma. That concludes the teams. Your jounin sensei's should be by to pick their teams up."

With that, Iruka left, leaving 10 genin in the room. Everyone had mixed reactions about the teams they were placed on. Sasuke and Naruto were both looking pissed. Sakura was ecstatic, while Ino wasn't as thrilled. Shikamaru and Choji didn't seem to care. Shino, as usual, didn't show any emotion. Hinata was calm about the whole ordeal. Kiba was yelling about being on a team with 'bug boy,' or Shino.

"Team Ten?" Someone said form the doorway. Getting up, all four of us made our way out to the hall.

"That's us," I answered. The first thing I noticed about the guy who spoke, was the burning cigarette in his mouth. He wore a standard jounin outfit, with the green vest and everything. His hair was short and brown and his forehead protecter was around his forehead, like Naruto's.

"Ah. I am your sensei, Sarutobi Asuma. Let's go eat. Standing in the Hokage's office for 2 hours can really drain you." Without saying anything else, he led us to a barbecue restraunt. We just went with it. When we sat at the table, he placed four files on it, no doubt that they were our's.

"Now. Let's get on with introductions. Even though I've read all of your files, I want a proper read of who you all are. Name, likes, dislikes, goals, hobbies, stuff like that. Any volunteers?" He said, drawing out his 'o's and 'i's. It wasn't exactly lazy, like Shikamaru, but it was more... Tired.

"I'll go," Ino said. "I'm Yamanaka Ino. I like Sasuke-kun, flowers, and family. I dislike anyone else who like Sasuke-kun and dango. My hobbies are flower arrangement, doing my nails, and hanging out with friends. My goal is for Sasuke-kun to notice me." Asuma nodded, acting like he cared. Who cares if you like someone? He asked us to introduce ourselves to get a feel for who we are.

"How about you, quiet girl?" I knew he knew my name. I guess he was trying to not appear creepy that he already knew our names.

"Ono Kabucha. I like volleyball, sandwiches, and the weapons shopkeeper named Temou. I dislike people who don't pull their weight and winter. My hobbies are training and playing volleyball. My goal is to," _Go to the Olympics with volleyball,_ "get stronger."

"What's volleyball?" Shikamaru asked. I knew someone would ask. In fact, I would have found it weird if someone _didn't_ ask.

"An activity where you pass a ball with your hands." I really couldn't explain it any better.

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll go," Skikamaru replied, "I'm Nara Shikamaru. I like watching the clouds and hanging out with friends. I dislike having to actually work. My hobbies are watching the clouds. My goal is to live to at least 30." If Asuma found any of that strange, he didn't show it. He nodded at Choji.

"I'm Akimichi Choji. I like to eat food and hang out with friends. I dislike it when people call me fat and when I have to train. My hobbies are eating and watching the clouds with Shikamaru. My goal is to be a great shinobi, like my dad."

"Great introductions. How abo-"

"What about you?" Shikamaru inturrupted.

"What about me?" Asuma replied back, taking a long puff of his cigarette.

"May you introduce yourself, Asuma-sensei?" I answered. The other three nodded, agreeing. I had been careful not to say, 'Can you introduce yourself?' because he probably would've said, 'I don't know, can I?'

"I'm Sarutobi Asuma. I like cigars. I dislike enemies of Konoha. My hobbies include sleeping and smoking. My goal is to be the best teacher to you four," he finished. When he talked, the cigarette in his mouth went up and down, in a funny way.

"I've got a question," Shikamaru started. Asuma nodded at him to continue. "Why is Kabucha-san here? No offense or anyth-"

"None taken," I said sarcastically.

"But," he continued, "isn't there usually an Ino-Shika-Cho team? My father and his father had the same team."

"Ah. About that," Asuma explained, "first off, there was an even number of teams. One team had to have four people on it and it just so happened to be this team. Now, since you're a Nara, I know you're going to want me to go further into detail. Kabucha here, is ranked very high in taijutsu, for a genin. Something you three lack in. She was put on this team to balance out the skill. While you three are good at jutsus, Kabucha knows only the basic ones."

"Wow, you're that good in taijutsu?" Choji commented, finishing off a bag of chips. Ino was looking at her nails and Shikamaru was staring at Asuma's head, as is he'd get more details about why I was placed on this team.

"Yeah..." I trailed off. I'd never really received praise, only by Iruka, Mizuki or Guy.

"What's in the scroll?" Asuma asked, lazily. We had all just finished eating chicken and were just sitting around.

"Bombs," I answered, bored. This interested everyone.

"Can we see one?" Ino asked, curiously. Instead of saying, 'I don't know, can you?' I reached behind me and poured a little bit of chakra into the seal. Luckily, my chakra cooperated. A spiky volleyball popped into my hand.

"That's a little strange," Asuma commented. "So you're a nuke-nin?"

"Um... I guess. I've never really considered it that way."

"Where did you get this?" Shikamaru asked. "And why is it shaped like that?" Smirking, I started explaining.

"I got it from a weapon shop. It's shaped like that because the spikes are actually kunai. Do you guys know what gunpowder is?" Asuma nodded, while the others shook their heads.

"It's a very explosive powder. It fills the inside of this bomb. When it gets lit, the bomb explodes, sending kunai everywhere, very, very fast."

"That's awesome," Choji said. Ino nodded. I sealed it back in the scroll safely, proudly. Someone just called something that I own 'awesome.'

"Well... I've got to be somewhere. Meet at training ground ten tomorrow at 8." With that, he disappeared.

"Do you guys wanna hang out today?" Choji asked.

"Where should we go?" Shikamaru replied. Did they all hang out often?

"We went to your house yesterday," Choji said, "And my mom would probably want to meet you, Kabucha-san."

"My parents want to meet her too," Ino added. Did everyone know everyone within their families? They acted like cousins.

"Mine too," Shikamaru commented. This was weird; I wasn't used to this much attention.

"Alright. Why don't we just stop by all three of our houses, today?" Ino concluded. I was glad nobody was ignorant enough to think I had parents. That would've been awkward if they asked. So throughout the day, we went to the three's houses and I was introduced to their parents.

When Ino's mom, found out that she the last one to be introduced to me, she insisted that we stay. And stay we did. Ino's dad was at T&I (torture and interrogation) and was due home soon, according to Mrs. Yamanaka.

"So, Kabucha-san, who are your parents?" Mrs. Yamanaka asked. My three other teammates froze and looked at me. I brushed their looks off and smiled softly at Mrs. Yamanaka.

"Mo-" Ino started.

"I don't have parents, ma'am." She frowned.

"Then you're an orphan?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'm sorry, Kabucha-san, I didn't know. Ino, why didn't you tell me?" She scolded, frowning at her only daughter.

"Mom, it wasn't a common topic," Ino replied. Choji piped up, from the couch. We were all eating cookies in Ino's living room.

"If it makes you feel better, Mrs. Yamanaka, my mother made the same mistake." My ears burned red.

"Thank you, Choji-chan," Mrs. Yamanaka said with a sad smile.

"So what do y'all do for free time?" I asked. So far, we had just talked.

"Choji and I watch the clouds. Ino does her own thing," Shikamaru answered.

"Boring. We should play a game," I replied. Watching clouds? Ugh, how boring.

"What kind of game?" Ino asked. Her mom had left the room, saying a team needed privacy.

"Rock-Paper-Scissors, Ninja, BS, anything besides watching the clouds."

"What's BS?" Choji asked at the same time as Shikamaru. I explained the game, and Ino got a deck of cards out. I shuffled them and gave everyone an equal amount of cards.

In the long run, Ino always won BS.

"Nuh-uh! You looked at my cards!" I said loudly. Ino smirked.

"How can I do that? I don't have a Sharingan or Byakugan." This left me at a loss of words for a couple moments. Shikamaru and Choji were just watching the dispute, quietly.

"Mind tricks. You used Mind Transfer." Shikamaru jumped in.

"It would've been obvious if she had used Mind Transfer. For someone as young as Ino, that takes handseals. Did you see her form any?" He asked. I mumbled something under my breath.

"What was that?" Ino asked, smirking again.

"Nothing." I was ready to say 'Red Card!' and flip the table. I didn't though, because I didn't want to pay for a broken table.

"Hey. I actually have to go talk to someone," I said, getting up. Surprisingly, they got up too.

"Can we come?" Ino asked. Scratching my head, I nodded.

"Don't know why... I'm just going to the weapons shop."

"We've got nothing to do and we should spend the day as a team," Choji added. After saying goodbye to Ino's mom, all four of us left her house. I lead them to Temou's shop.

"Hello, Kabucha. Are these your friends?" Temou asked, from behind the counter.

"Yep! They're on my team. Temou, meet Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimishi Choji." He nodded, looking at each one as I said their names and pointed them out. They each greeted him.

"Hello, Temou-sama. Are you the one who made Kabucha-san's bombs?" Choji asked, politely. Ino and Shikamaru were looking at the weapons, while Choji and I hung out with Temou.

"Yes sir, Akimichi-san. Why? Do you want some?" Temou asked the genin.

"No, sir. The bombs are awesome though," Chouji replied.

"Thank you. That means a lot coming from a clan member," Temou remarked. Chouji's face went a little pink. "Kabucha, don't tell me you've already used a bomb?" He asked. I shook my head.

"No, Temou. I haven't. I just have an idea for another one." He nodded at me to go on. My teammates looked at me from where they were in the shop, curiously. "You know how ninjas typically have lots of metal on them?"

"Yes. Why?" Temou asked.

"Well... Would it be possible to magnetize a volleyball? Like, make a metal one with weight seals on it to make it light?" Temou brought a hand to his chin in thought.

"You know... Thats a lot of money for materials, Kabucha. Just one magnetized volleyball could cost 20,000 ryo.($2,000) Also, I'm not even sure if that'll work. Multiple seals might have to be added to increase the magnetism of the ball, and even then, I've never really worked with magnets, so it might take a while for me to study about them. I can make the metal ball; no problem. It's the magnet thing that I'm unsure about."

"Well... What if I get you the things needed to magnetize the ball? Would that work?" I replied. A magnetized volleyball was by far, my best idea yet. Temou nodded.

"If you get me the things I need to magnetize the volleyball, I'll do it for you." After thanking him, we hung out in his shop for a little bit and then left.

"That Temou guy is nice," Ino remarked. "How long have you known him? I noticed you two didn't use honorifics."

"I've known him for 4 years now," I replied.

"Way to be dedicated to one weapon-maker," Choji said, digging in to his fourth bag of chips. "My family skips around with where we buy our weapons." That never occurred to me. It wouldn't hurt to see if there were any other weapon shops that could magnetize something, would it? Well... Temou was the one who made he volleyballs, and I didn't want to have to describe a volleyball again.

"Thanks. He's kind of like family, you know?" I added.

"Yeah... Hey, I've got to get home. I'll see you guys at 8 tomorrow," Choji said, leaving with a bag of chips in his hand. Ino and Shikamaru waved bye and they left too.

I sighed. Having friends was fun. Back in high school, nobody wanted to do anything. They were a bunch of duds. But here, here people could do _anything_. Literally. The village was so packed together, that everyone knew where everyone lived.

Speaking of friends, I wonder what my other friends are doing right now? Maybe they've assumed I'm dead and go to an empty grave every year to mourn. I know I've been taken off the volleyball team roster for club. What should I do now? I've been wanting to speak Spanish to someone for quite some time now. Sure, I appeared here when I was in the middle of my Spanish 2 PAP class, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten everything.

Taking out a piece of paper and ink, I started drawing. I was bored and I still had some time before I needed to be back at the orphanage. First, I drew the moon. A round shape it was, but on it, there was a rocket. A flag with America's design on it was also standing proudly on the moon. Below the moon, I drew skyscrapers. Tiny windows were drawn in and I threw in a McDonalds for good measure. Next, I drew a plane. It didn't actually look like a plane, thanks to my amazing art skills, but I knew what it was.

"What's this?" Asuma asked. I gave him a confused expression.

"I thought you had stuff to do?" He scratched his chin.

"I'm finished. Now what's this drawing depict?" He asked again. Shrugging, I answered his question.

"You know the moon right?"

"Who doesn't?" He answered with an amused grin.

"Well... What if we could walk on it? We could send a thing up there and land on the moon." I pointed to the sky.

"That's a big 'what if.' What gave you that idea?" He sat down across next to me. I was sitting on the porch of Temou's shop.

"I don't know. It'd be cool to go somewhere where no one's gone before, don't you think?"

"Yeah... That'd be real neat. What's this?" Asuma pointed to the rocket and flag.

"That's the thing we would go to the moon in. And that," I pointed at the flag, "that's what we would put down to prove we were there first. We wouldn't want Suna or Kumo to say they got there first, so we have to prove it, you know?" Asuma didn't say anything for a while, he only stared at the drawing.

"You know," he started, puffing out smoke, "You've got quite the imagination, Kabucha. You wanna know something?"

"What?" I replied.

"The Hokage actually didn't know where to put you. Like Shikamaru, you were average in everything, except for taijutsu. Since you were average, we did something we'd never done before: added to the Ino-Shika-Cho team. It wouldn't have made sense to put you with Shino, Kiba, and Hinata, because they were formed specifically for tracking. Kakashi was given a team with Uchiha Sasuke on it to help him out with the Sharingan. So that left you on my team."

"So the teams are actually formed for a specific purpose?" That made sense.

"Mhm. My team is meant to be a diversion team. We're supposed to stall the enemy to allow other teams time to catch up," Asuma finished. "Also, what're these?" He pointed to the skyscrapers and plane.

"Do you see this building, Asuma-sensei? The one we're sitting on?" He nodded, telling me to continue. "Well, what if there were buildings that could cut the sky? They could be so tall, that you'd have to look way up to see the top."

"And the other thing?" I paused, thinking of an explanation for the plane.

"You know how we have to run everywhere, to get to our destinations? What if we had giant iron birds that could take us places? Maybe they could be so big, that 100 people could travel from village to village in an hour, instead of 3 or 4 days? Wouldn't that be awesome?" Asuma started laughing.

"Kabucha, think about it. Buildings that could reach the sky? Iron birds carrying 100 people from village to village? People on the moon?" I gave a half-assed chuckle.

"Asuma-sensei, I don't know what I was thinking. All those things are impossible." He got up and Ruffles my head.

"It's only impossible if you think it is, Kabucha. Training ground 10, tomorrow at 8." He said, walking away. I picked up the drawing and stared at it.

None of that was impossible. Back in the old world, we had accomplished these things, and we weren't even ninjas! I'm just glad I didn't draw cars. But, hey! Now he would probably underestimate me as a dreamer, not a fighter.

"Hey, Kabucha, what were you guys talking about? I could hear that guy laughing from inside," Temou asked, opening the door to his shop. He stepped outside and peaked at the drawing.

"Nothing. I just drew a couple of ideas that came to mind and he thought they were silly," I answered. Temou then asked what everything was on the drawing, and I gave him the same answers I had given to Asuma. Instead of cracking up, Temou was just looking at it in thought.

"Temou? What is it?" I asked, standing up. He blinked a couple of times and sighed.

"I bet it'd be peaceful living on the moon. No wars, no worry, just peace. I could look down on Konoha and laugh at the silly wars and battles that I would see, because you know what? I'd be living the dream. Why'd that guy think any of that was silly? You've got better ideas than that idiotic Council. Hey, Kabucha."

"Yeah, Temou?" I answered, grinning from ear to ear. Temou knew what he wanted, and so did I.

"First chance we get. Me and you, we're going to the moon."

"Sounds like a plan, Temou," I replied, chuckling.

 **AN: Sorry to keep you guys waiting with the chapter. I had tough calls to make with character development issues. It's here now! Sorry about any mistakes and Happy Holidays!**


	7. Flamboyant

**AN: Thank you for, what? The 3rd time? 4th? Bah. Thanks again to kani-leek-lover for the awesome review. I know most people don't expect an OC to be placed on the Ino-Shika-Cho team. I've got it all planned out... I think. Also, thank you guys for reviews, follows, favorites, and of course, the views. I hope everyone enjoys the story so far! Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 7**

"You wanna show us those chakra blades of yours, Asuma-sensei?" I suggested. Team Ten was chilling under a tree in Training Ground 10. Asuma claimed that we had enough for the day, and insisted that we rest under a tree. Our actual training was running around the training ground a couple times, 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups and a few cool down laps. That was my training regimen _4 years ago._ It looked like my three other teammates were worn out, though.

"Who told you I have chakra blades?" Asuma replied, having to fan some of the smoke that had collected around him.

"Senyu Temou." Being friends with Temou had its perks. He told me juicy tid-bits that his customers told him. He also told me who had cool weapons. Temou only knew about Asuma's chakra blades, because Asuma came to him when they needed sharpening.

"Isn't he that weapons shopkeeper we met that one time?" Ino commented.

"Yes, he is," Shikamaru answered. His body was laying in the shade of the tree, but his head was out in the sun, watching the clouds.

"Oh, yeah. We were sitting on his porch. I should've known... Well, I'll let you guys see one. No need to use two." Shikamaru sat up to watch, Ino and I stopped judging each other's nails, and Choji kept eating chips.

Asuma rummaged around in his weapon's holster, and brought out a wicked looking knife. It was a little more than half my arm in size. A couple seconds after he brought it out, it hummed to life, and blue energy surrounded the perimeter of the knife.

"How's it work?" Choji asked.

"I use elemental chakra to power the blade. When it's powered, it can cut through rocks or trees with enough force," Asuma answered with half a smirk. He put away the chakra blade.

"What's your elemental affinity?" I added in.

"Wind and fire."

"I thought you can only have one," Shikamaru remarked.

"Some people are born with the ability to use two," Asuma countered.

"Neat," I said. I wonder what my elemental affinity was? Maybe it was fire, because I could set a small flame to ignite my volleybombs.

"How do you know what your elemental affinity is?" I asked.

"We can find out, right now," Asuma replied, taking out four small pieces of lamented paper. He gave each of us a piece.

"This is a special type of paper. It's cut from some special bamboo tree, I don't know. Just pour chakra into the paper. I'll tell you what type you guys have afterwards." I sighed. Willing my chakra to go into my paper, it surprisingly didn't resist. For some reason, I imagined it being curious, so it didn't fight my control.

The tiny square in my hands, went up in flames and I was left with ash. Looking at my team, I saw they had very different results. Their paper didn't change. It looked like they knew it wouldn't happen too.

"What the crap, guys? Do y'all's," I demanded.

"We're part of clans, Kabucha," Ino told, "Our jutsus counteract with our ability to have chakra affinities." Looking to the other two, they nodded at me.

"Wow. Why'd you guys take the paper if you knew that?" I asked.

"We didn't want you to feel left out," Choji answered. Asuma took the three unused papers back.

"Thanks... Asuma-sensei?" I questioned.

"Hmm?" He replied, smoking up a storm while lounging on the tree.

"Is this what all practices are going to be like?"

"Yep." I'm screwed. While everyone else thought nothing of it, I was pissed. I was supposed to fight enemies and stuff, and I'm practicing in these conditions? Ugh.

"Go do more, if you think you're not being pushed hard enough," Asuma added, spotting the disgusted look that had crossed my face.

"Thanks, Asuma-sensei, but can I get lessons from you if this is what practices are going to be like?" Nobody regarded our conversation. Ino was checking her nails(again) and Choji was looking at the cloud with Shikamaru, while eating a bag of chips.

"No can do, Kabucha-chan. I'm busy after practices. Sorry..." He apologized. What do I do?

"Well, do you know anyone else who could help train me, Asuma-sensei?" He scratched the back of his head and took another puff of his cigarette.

"What do you want to be trained in?" He asked semi-seriously. Well, I knew how to break out of a genjutsu. My taijutsu was pretty good for a genin, but there was always room for improvement. I only knew the basics of ninjutsu...

"Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and help with elemental affinity," I said after contemplating. Asuma rubbed his chin.

"Hmm... I'm thinking Mitarashi Anko is the one you want. Kakashi has a team right now, so does Kurenai... I would recommend Kakashi, but he doesn't do tutoring to people outside his team. Anko is a special jounin... Although..." Asuma kept trailing off, thoughts going in and out.

"Great! Where can I find Mitarashi Anko?" I asked, enthusiastically.

"Wait... I don't think she's the right choice," Asuma said, doubting his decision.

"Are there any others, then?" He shook his head. "Then where can I find Mitarashi Anko?"

"I don't know where she is right now. She works for T&I though. Maybe you can ask there. You know what? I'll go with you. She'll probably turn you down if you went alone. Team dismissed," he finished, and then got up from under the tree. Together we made our way to T&I.

It was a big, gray rectangle with blacked out windows. Nothing else. T&I looked boring, despite its purpose. Upon arriving in front of the building, Asuma rubbed his beard. He did that a lot.

"You know... Now that I think about it, I think Ebisu is a better mentor than Anko." I looked up at him.

"But we're already here, Asuma-sensei." He nodded with a sigh.

"Alright, but if she says no, we're leaving." We walked inside T&I. It was just as boring and bleak as the outside.

"What're you doing here, Asuma?" The desk clerk said. He had a forehead protecter on. "Misbehaving genin?" He added, glancing at me.

"Ha," Asuma gave a dry chuckle. "I wish. No, I'm here to talk to Anko." The clerk pushed one of the many buttons attached to the wide desk.

"She'll be here in a minute." While we waited for Anko, I got a full look around. Everything was gray and miserably boring. No color in sight.

"What the fuck, Tai? I was in the middle of an interrogation," someone said, appearing in front of the desk. He pointed behind her, wordlessly. She turned around and I got a good look at her. She had purple hair that was in a ponytail and pupil-less light brown eyes. Her forehead protecter was around her forehead and she had a tan trench coat. Fishnets covered her torso as a shirt and she had on a tan skirt. Another walking fashion catastrophe.

"What do you want, Asuma?" She asked, clearly pissed. He rubbed his beard again.

"One of my students wants to be trained and we thought you fit the job," he answered, not meeting her eye. Her gaze settled on me.

"What? A shrimp like you? Pathetic. Who do you think you are, asking me for training?" Anko asked sharply.

"Anko, I'm sure we can-" Asuma started.

"Who are you calling a shrimp? We're the same height." And it was true. We were both 5'4. Anko glared at me.

"I'm calling you a shrimp, _Baka,"_ she replied, looking me in the eye.

"Girls can yo-" Asuma tried.

" _Baka_? At least I know how to color coordinate my clothes," I retorted.

"How old are you?" Anko asked, smirking.

"12," I replied, ready to fire another insult.

"Asuma, what time does your team 'practice?'" She asked, putting air quotations around 'practice.'

"8 am. We finish at 9," he replied, glad that we weren't fighting anymore.

"Alright, kid. 9:30 am tomorrow, don't be late. If you can still stand after one training session with me, we'll see about more," Anko offered.

"Done," I replied. How hard could one training session be? Without saying goodbye, Anko walked back down the hallway.

"Are you out of your mind?" The clerk asked. Asuma kept shaking his head.

"What? What's so bad?" I asked, confused.

"You're _insane_ if you want Anko to train you. She's intense as hell." I walked away without answering, with Asuma following.

"I should've asked Ebisu. _You_ should've asked Ebisu," Asuma kept muttering. After parting ways, I immediately want straight to Temou's shop. Inside, Temou was eating instant ramen.

"What's the news, Kabucha?" Temou asked, slurping up some noodles. Ew.

"I'm on the laziest team _ever_ , Temou. Luckily, I'm meeting a potential second teacher besides Asuma to help train me," I replied, sitting on a stool in the corner.

"Mmm. Anyone I know?" He got another scoop of ramen.

"I don't know. Have you ever heard of 'Mitarashi Anko' by any chance?" At this, Temou spit out some noodles on the counter.

"Are you serious, Kabucha? Anko?! Anko's going to be your new teacher?" He exclaimed, wiping up the noodles quickly with a rag.

"Well, yeah," I shrugged. "Why is everyone telling me that's a bad idea?"

"Mitarashi Anko was taught under one of the three legendary Sannin of Konoha, Orochimaru. She is very intense and is thought to be a spy for Orochimaru."

"But didn't you say he was legen-"

"He's an S-class missing-nin, Kabucha." Oh.

"I didn't know..." I trailed off. If I had known she had been trained by him...

This makes it better! She knows how to push people, because he's pushed her hard. So, she's definetly the coach for me. I don't want to be stuck with Asuma, who won't push me to the breaking point. I want someone who can make me better.

"Kabucha... What's with that look in your eye?" Temou asked, suspiciously.

"What look?" I countered, cutely, a smile forming on my face. He gave me a stern look and crossed his arms.

"I've known you for four years, Ono Kabucha. I know that face."

"What face?" I asked again.

" _That face._ Don't train under Anko," he finished.

"Okay, Temou..." I trailed off, slinking out his door. He tutted and finished his noodles.

"Temou... You non-believer..." I muttered under my breath. You know what this village needed? Holidays. Days don't have any meaning unless you have something to look forward to. I needed something to look forward to. Like Thanksgiving. Like Hanukah. Who am I kidding? I don't celebrate Hanukah. Like _Christmas._ It was weird though. It felt like somebody wa-

"Shino!" The bastard was standing right beside me. He hadn't said anything, so I didn't know he was there until my Spidey-Senses alerted me. I didn't actually have Spidey-Senses, but it was Shino. Haha.

"I apologize for not alerting you to my presence," he said. I scratched my head and coughed.

"It's cool. What're you doing here anyway? It's not that I don't enjoy your company..." Oh boy. Things took a turn for awkward.

"My team just finished training," was all he said. Okay then.

"Oh! So you wanted to hang out with ol' Kabucha? I understand! I would want to hang out with me too!" I exclaimed, throwing my arm around his shoulder, effectively squashing him against me.

"Kabucha-san, while I appreciate your enthusiasm..."

"Yeah?" I asked, curious. He squirmed around and sighed.

"Nothing. I appreciate your enthusiasm," he finished. While I was celebrating my victory over getting Shino to be something of a friend, I noticed something on my hand over Shino's shoulder.

Somethings.

"Ah!" I yelled, retracting my hand and desperately sweeping the bugs off. "Shino!" Looking over at the culprit, I saw his brows were furrowed and he was looking at the bugs on my arm. Slowly, they retracted into the neckcollar of his trenchcoat. Without saying anything, Shino started walking away with his head down.

"Shino," when I didn't get an answer, I yelled again. "Hey, Shino!" I grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. I quickly removed my hand, not wanting to repeat the same mistake twice.

"I apologize, Kabucha-san. I thought I could control them..." That's what he was worried about?

"Don't fret, Shino. Everyone has their days. But what was up with you walking away?" This guy.

"I thought you hated me," he replied. Well, that's kind of stupid.

"Nah, Shino. I don't hate you. Don't be stupid." The whole ordeal happened without anyone looking at us. Though some people shot Shino a dirty look.

"What're you up to, Shino? Wanna grab some lunch?" I asked, shooting no one in particular a dazzling smile that didn't stand a chance against Guy.

"I was heading home when I saw you on the street. So I thought I'd..." He trailed off, probably from embarrassment.

"Wanted to say hi?" He nodded.

"Well, buddy-oh-pal-of-mine, I'm saying hi back. Now, do you want to grab lunch with me, or go wherever you were going?"

"I was going home. I apologize, Kabucha-san." I waved goodbye and watched him walk off. What a socialite.

Instead of heading back to the orphanage, I walked to Temou's and sat on his porch again. This time, without Asuma. I unsealed my drawing from the scroll on my back, and unrolled it, making sure there weren't any creases on it.

Everything was as it was before. Moon with flag on it, rocket on the moon, McDonalds, skyscrappers, and the plane. I pulled out the same pen I had used to draw them, and started drawing some more. This time, I drew a car, a bus, and a tractor. All modern advancements. Along with those, I drew my old school, with my friends that were duds. Even though they were duds, they had been my friends. In the upper left right hand corner, I sketched the American flag. The 13 stripes and the 50 stars were detailed and perfect.

Now that I was done with the front, I turned it over and began sketching a Christmas tree. It had lots of branches, with ornaments and candy canes littered everywhere. Behind the tree, there was a fireplace lit up, with stockings hanging from it. On those stockings, I wrote, 'Teresa,' 'Michael,' and 'Teagen.' I made them look like cowboy boots, because that's how our stockings were. Underneath the tree, I sketched dozens of presents with big bows on the top of them.

I couldn't be sad about it anymore. Like Bud, Not Buddy said, "My eyes don't cry tears no more." I've cried all my tears out, and I had none left to spare.

"Drawing something new?" Temou said from behind me. He closed the door to the shop and sat down next to me.

"It's a holiday tree."

"What's a holiday?" He asked. That, right there, was depressing.

"It's an occasion that you celebrate. You don't work on holidays or anything."

"Ah, so other villages have it?"

"No. It's just something I thought up," I replied, sighing. Oh, how I missed the holidays.

"What're those names in the back?" he asked, pointing at the stockings, "I can't read it." With a start, I realized I had written the names in English, not Japanese. Awesome.

"Gru, Bob, and Kevin." I was a fan of Despicable Me. That was also depressing, because I woke up here before I could see 'Minions.' Also, despite Temou being like a dad to me, I wasn't going to tell him my old name; that was sacred.

"So you want a break from ninja training, huh?" I looked at him and noticed the noodle stain on his shirt.

"No. I... I don't know what I want." Temou whistled.

"You've got to have something to look forward to, Kabucha; something to reach. A goal. You can't go through life without a purpose, that just isn't right," he explained.

"What's your goal, Temou?" I asked. I was keeping up the charade very well, in my opinion.

"My goal is to help others, Kabucha. You're still a child," he ignored my protest, "so you don't understand yet. But once you get a big mission, you're going to have to protect your teammates. Just remember, anyone who doesn't work hard enough, usually doesn't make the cut or in your case, doesn't live to see tomorrow."

"Temou, you give great advice. Where do you get this stuff?" I asked, smiling a little.

"I've got too much free time on my hands." He took the drawing from my hands, asking nicely.

"What're these squiggly things?" He asked, pointing at the candy canes.

"Candy canes. They're minty and really good in cold weather," I answered.

"Candy canes..." He drawed out, "If only those existed. Sadly, everyone's focused on good nutrition. Well, I guess that isn't a bad thing, but for us common folk, it gets boring after a while. I wouldn't mind candy canes."

"Me neither."

 **AN: I know this took a little bit to get out, but it took me a while to write it. Also, I'm on mobile, so I apologize for any mistakes you guys find. Happy Holidays!**


	8. Golden Opportunity

**AN: Thank you so much for the awesome reviews.** **Thank you again, kani-leek-lover. Your reviews are a big help in writing the next chapter. Art Is A Big Bang, I'm glad that you like this story! I usually delete lots of paragraphs and make new ones before I publish a new chapter. Thank you for the wonderful favorites, follows, and reviews! Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 8**

"Kabucha, I understand if you don't want to go to Anko's training session and instead, want to eat barbecue with us," Asuma said. Team Ten's practice had just finished. As usual, Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were winded and sweaty; and as usual, I was not. My breathing didn't even go up. My training regimen now, was 5 miles(8.047 kilometers) as a warm up. Last year, Guy had recommended weights, so I had started wearing those. Now, the weights on both of my arms were 10 lbs, and the ones on my legs were 20 lbs.

"Asuma-sensei, if Anko-sensei kills me in training, then she kills me in training. This is my decision and I'm not backing down," I repeated, for the fourth time today. The rest of my team had been informed of my decision, so they didn't show any reaction.

"I heard that Mitarashi Anko is a traitor," Ino commented, just now getting her breath.

"How do you know that?" Shikamaru questioned, looking up from where he was hunched over, trying to get his bearings together. Ino flipped her long, blonde ponytail over her shoulder.

"Word travels. Kabucha, are you really going to let yourself be trained by a traitor?" She questioned, "Why not stick with Asuma-sensei?"

"Ino, we don't actually know if she's a traitor and I'm not even sweaty. Asuma-sensei isn't going to push me to the limit, and I need someone who will." Who actually believes gossip? I only pointed out Asuma's blades because Temou told me it wasn't bullshit. I have no way of knowing if Ino had a good source of information. In freshman year, I figured out pretty quickly, that you couldn't trust everything you heard.

"It's her decision," Asuma stated, glancing at his watch. "Kabucha, if you're going to go, it's 9:20."

"Alright, bye!" I yelled, jogging off. They all waved at me, except for Asuma, who said, 'Good luck.' Training ground 34. It was still hot, so my hair was tied back in a high ponytail, my hitai-ate resting on my forehead. I still wore my green shirt and shorts, with my close-toes ninja shoes comfortably on my feet, protecting them from dirt and debris.

My jog came to a stop, as I caught sight of the woman at Training Ground 34.

Anko.

She was wearing what she wore yesterday, except with a shorter trench coat. How can she afford two coats? Oh well.

"Looks like the shrimp decided to show," she said, pushing herself off the rock she had been leaning on. Training Ground 34 was littered with rocks, big and small; no grass in sight.

"We're the same height," I repeated, crossing my arms, "So... How's this gonna go?"

"Shut up and I'll tell you, Baka."

"Bak-"

"Alright, the way I see it, if you can survive this, you're worthy of another practice with me." Before I could ask another question, my brain registered a painful pinch from my ear. Reaching up and touching my left ear, I discovered it was bleeding. She had skimmed the outside of it.

"The hell was that for?!" I demanded, looking back to see a kunai embedded in a tree.

"Look kid, if you can't survive an itty-bitty scratch, then you're not worth my time. Also, no questions." She grinned with malice.

Without warning, several kunai were thrown at me. Knowing I didn't have enough speed to duck, I turned to the side, resulting in a painful flower blossoming. Looking down, I saw there were 3 kunai about an inch(2.54 cm) in my side. Quickly and painfully, I yanked them out and discarded them to the rocks. I understood now.

I had to survive.

With no more time to think, I dodged another wave of kunai and threw my own back at Anko. She blocked them with one of her kunai and started running to me. Knowing that going up against a _special_ jonin was not, in fact, the smartest thing to do, I did the next best thing and ran to the trees. _Maybe I should shed the weights?_ No. Guy said to do it only if absolutely necessary. So not yet.

Creating a clone, I sent it to the right of me, hopefully leading Anko back to the training grounds. I could hear, even as I was running, the sounds that the clone purposfully made. I however, ran silently, chakra coating the bottom of my shoes as to not make a sound. My attempts were in vain, as I realized that the clone had been popped.

"Was that a joke?" Anko asked, from above me. Looking up, I saw she was running _upside down_ on the branches.

"You're a joke!" I exclaimed, making a sharp right. Using the precious seconds I had gained, I unsealed a volleybomb with muscle memory that I had accumulated over the years. Temou insisted I knew how to do it without looking, and it turns out, he had made the right call.

A kunai whizzed by me. A fine line of red streamed down my calf, but I couldn't stop.

 _"If you can't survive an itty-bitty scratch, then you're not worth my time."_

Not worth my time.

I lit the volleybomb and chunked it behind me, making sure to start sprinting. Temou and I had both forgotten that the kunai from the bomb could affect _me_ too. That was definitely something we would work on.

Hearing the small explosion behind me, I ran into the clearing composed of rocks.

"What the hell was that?" Anko asked, standing on a rather large boulder. What? Hadn't she been behind me?

"How'd you get here so fast?" I asked. She just stood there, smirking. It was almost like she was... Seeing nothing around her, I smiled. "I see... The real one is somewhere else then, huh?" It was around 9:45; she should've had a shadow, but she didn't, and I realized I had been talking to a clone.

Something hit me in the back, hard. I was launched forward and landed face first into the rocks. Quickly realizing that I had just been kicked by Anko, I rolled my body to the left, not stopping until I caught sight of her. Scrambling to my feet, I saw the place where I had been moments before, was littered with kunai.

I needed to keep moving.

Leaping from where I was, I started running around randomly. I would go halfway into the rocks and then retreat back in the forest. In the forest, I would jump from branch to branch, occasionally taking a right or left turn, then start over. Looking behind me, I realized that my strategy was partly working. While Anko was still chasing me, she couldn't throw anything at me with the random turns I was making. Sure, she got some good hits in, here and there, but it wasn't as often as before.

My legs collapsed suddenly, without a warning. With my legs, went my body.

"Well, shrimp. Looks like I've won," Anko said from behind me. Turning my head, I saw her smirking face; a face of victory. Turning my body around, I sat up and inspected what had caused my legs to stop moving.

Through the back of both legs, were two single senbon; a knife thing that was as skinny as a toothpick; literally. She had hit my pressure points.

"You know kid, you put up a half-decent fight. But you're not standing, so I gue- What're you doing?" She asked, suddenly. I had unsealed the rest of my volleybombs and had all four in my arms.

"Go big or go home," was all I said before I ignited them. Anko's eyes widened and before I knew what happened, she had appeared in front of me. She grabbed me bridle style, and scrunched my body. The next thing I knew, we were flying.

Landing on the rocks, I groaned. The adrenaline of running had dissapeared and I felt like shit. My side was still bleeding and my leg was all bloody. The sun, scorching down, heated the rocks and definitely wasn't a help. Searching for Anko, I found her a good 20 feet(6.096 meters) away. She was laying on her stomach and was groaning. I could see why; with 15 or so kunai in her back, she looked like a metal porcupine.

"I'll take the young one," I heard someone say. Looking from Anko to right besides me, I saw a pair of open-toed shoes. Forcing my head up, I got a look at the owner of the shoes. He had brown hair and was wearing a pig mask. I let my head slowly rest on the hot rocks, because I had a killer headache and I felt terrible.

"Who're you?" I grumbled, words not wanting to form correctly. Instead of answering, he reached down and scooped me up. Without another word, he transported me to the hospital. It was all a big blur, because my vision didn't want to work and I think we were moving really fast.

"What happened?" A high pitched voice said. I didn't care, because the AC of the hospital cooled my hot skin.

"Training accident. Mitarashi Anko will be here shortly. They were both heavily injured," the guy said. Why was he wearing a mask? Someone winced.

"Is Mitarashi able to walk?" The high pitched voice asked. To my knowledge, nobody answered, so I assumed he had nodded or something.

A couple of minutes had passed by before I realized I was now lying on a gurney. My vision was going in and out, no doubt from a concussion, but I think they were wheeling me down a hallway. I could no longer feel anything, probably from drugs. I was glad though.

I woke up to the sound of beebing. Opening my eyes, I saw I was in a hospital room. Everything was white and I discovered, I had a white gown on. Feeling the absence of my hitai-ate, I looked around lazily until my eyes settled on it on the table besides me. If didn't care what happened to the stupid thing. To be frank, I wanted to trade it in for a pair of volleyball shoes, but I knew that would never happen.

The door opened. Turning my gaze, I saw that it was Asuma, followed by a nurse.

"Looks like she's awake. Alright, Kabucha-san. You have a total of 57 stiches. 15 in your side, 37 in your left leg, and the other 5 are in your arms. We don't know what happened. You two have been here since yesterday. You got operated on and were put under heavy sedatives. This morning, we stopped the sedatives, but you will need to need to take medication. I'm leaving the medication with your instructor, seeing as how you're an orphan." If she saw me frown from the word, 'orphan,' she didn't care. After telling Asuma how often to give me pills, she handed him a pill bottle and left, saying I could leave the hospital if I wanted to.

"What happened?" Asuma asked, concern laced in his voice. Wincing from humiliation, I told him the story.

"Hey, why do I have to have stiches? What happened to medical jutsu?" I asked, finished telling him the story.

"The hospital is short on people who know how to heal complicated wounds. Besides the point, Kabucha. Why did you do that? Why would you ignite a bomb so close to yourself?" He asked. I had to think about that one. Why _did_ I do it?

"She was going to fail me..."

"So?! That does not mean to put yourself in danger, Kabucha!" Asuma yelled, suddenly. My face hardened.

"Nobody would have cared... Except for Temou." I cringed. I hadn't thought of Temou. In fact, why did I do that? I was _so_ stupid.

"You see, Kabucha, that's where you're wrong. I care! Ino cares! Shikamaru cares! Choji cares! Who do you think you are, trying to blow yourself up?!" In all honesty, it didn't really hurt. Not as much as a jacked up knee. Blowing your knee out was much more painful than getting stabbed, in my opinion.

"Asuma-sensei, if I blow myself up, it was probably for good reason. I was trying to prove to Anko that I was worthy of her training." If I died, would I get to go to Heaven? I wasn't a very religious person, but I prayed every now and then. At least in Heaven, I would see my parents. I would be able to look down and watch them. But they wouldn't be able to see me...

"Worthy, huh?" He said, lowering his voice. I looked at him. Asuma was staring at the hitai-ate on the desk.

"What the fuck was that, shrimp?!" Anko yelled, kicking in the door.

"Anko ple-"

"No way, Asuma! This girl's got more balls than half this village, to pull a stunt like that!" She exclaimed. Asuma rubbed his beard.

"Does that mea-" I started.

"You bet your ass, shrimp! You and me will be training non-stop until the Chuunin Exams." I looked to Asuma, confused.

"You're also going to be going on D-rank missions with your own team, Kabucha," Asuma started, "but you'll also be training with Anko."

"What's the Chuunin Exams?" I asked. He had cleared up a few points, but not the ones I wanted.

"It's an exam you take to become a chuunin, Baka," Anko answered. I reached over and put on my hitai-ate.

"Shut up. Where's my clothes?" I asked, looking around. Asuma handed them to me and left. However...

"Can you leave?"

"Nothing I haven't seen before, Shrimp."

"I'll put another round of bombs in you."

"Alright, alright... I'll turn around." Quickly, I shed the gown and slipped on my clothes. Someone had gotten me some new undergarments; probably Anko or Ino, because Asuma had given me the clothes.

"You know," I said, getting out of bed, "people say that you were trained by one of the three Sannin, Orochimaru. Is that true?" Anko whirled around.

"Fuck yeah it's true. But I hate him, so don't say his name," she replied, smirking.

"Why don't you like Sannin#3? And why is he missing?" Anko raised an eyebrow at his new name, but didn't say anything about it.

"He used to experiment on people. The Hokage caught him, and he was to be arrested. Well, 'Sannin#3' didn't want to be caught,"

"Who does?" I inturrupted. She coughed.

"Sannin#3 didn't want to be caught, _so_ he alluded arrest and went missing." My head started to spin. If Anko was this good, then how good was Orochimaru? And where could I find him? I didn't want a good teacher; I wanted a great one. I personally didn't give a shit about this 'Village Loyalty' thing, but I would have to play along, at least until I could leave. Damnit. I was an American, not a Konohanian or whatever they called themselves. I was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"So... When do we start training?" I asked, breaking the silence. She shrugged.

"Same time as last practice. Make sure to stay on that medication, Shrimp." She said, 'shrimp' like Phil from Disney's Hercules, said 'champ.' After bitching to me about her wounds for a couple of minutes, Anko left.

Since I had gotten up, I had put my scroll back on. The original volleyball was still in there, along with my ryo and the drawing of the old world.

I went to pay Temou a visit.

He wasn't particularly thrilled when I told him what happened.

"57 stiches? Kabucha, I told you to be careful," he tutted, looking at me sadly. "What's even worse, is that that traitor hurt you." I held up a finger.

"Nope. She isn't a traitor, Temou. She said she hated Orochimaru," I told him.

"Just because she said it, doesn't make it true, Kabucha. Anyway, I don't know if I can supply you with any more bombs, after what you did to yourself."

"Temou, I did it to defeat Anko."

"But you still got hurt," he added.

"That's part of being a ninja, Temou! It isn't all sunshine and daisies! There will have to be sacrifices made!" I exclaimed, annoyed at Temou's attitude.

"I understand," he said, solemnly. "I know you're a ninja now, but be careful."

"Temou... I'm sorry for yelling at you," I said, quietly, regretting my actions. This guy was like a dad to me and I had just _yelled_ at him. His face lit up.

"I'll supply you with more volleybombs, Kabucha. But if you use them, you have to promise me to wear this," he said, getting a large metal shield thing. It was thicker than Captain America's shield, but the size was the same. The edges were rounded off too. It looked exactly like Embo's hat, from Star Wars.

"Temou, thanks, but isn't it a little big for a shield?" He chuckled.

"It's a hat, Kabucha." Just as I suspected. Taking the 'hat,' I put it on my head. For something so big and metal, it was a surprisingly comfortably fit. Temou gave me another set of weights, too. Except the ones on my arms were 25 lbs(11.34 kg) and the ones on my legs were now 40 lbs.(18.144 kg)

"Thanks, Temou," I said, looking at him. The 'hat' didn't actually obscure any of my vision, like I thought it would. "Will the hat come off if I run and jump with it?" I asked.

"No. I've had multiple seals put on the underside of it to prevent that. If you ignite a volleybomb, pull the hat down and it'll shield you from the kunai. Also, I put a storage seal on the hat, to replace your scroll. It's behind your ear, see it?" He asked. Taking the hat off, I scanned it with my eyes and saw a large storage seal.

"Why's it so large?" He smirked; a rare occurence for Temou.

"Didn't anyone tell you, that the biggerthe storage seal is, the more it can store?" I shook my head. It was pretty obvious though.

"Thanks, Temou." I unsealed everything in the scroll and sealed it in the hat. I tried to give the storage seal back to him, but he refused it.

"No. No. I doubt that you'll run out of room in the hat, but if you do, use the scroll." I hooked the storage scroll back onto my belt and hugged Temou. The hat stayed on.

"Thanks, Temou. I'm sorry for being reckless." He chuckled and pushed me out the door.

"Quit saying thanks. I know you're grateful."

 **AN: Thank you to all the reviewers for being supportive! Hope you guys liked this chapter. Happy Holidays!**


	9. A Movie Not Seen

**AN: Happy Holidays. I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 9**

"Kabucha? What in the world...?" Asuma dragged, taking his cigarette out of his mouth. The rest of the team turned and looked at what Asuma was confused about.

"What're you wearing?" Ino asked, sounding disgusted. My hat was not _that_ ugly.

"Temou gave it to me. It's to make sure I don't hurt myself again." The night before, I had inspected the hat. Temou not only equipped it with volleybombs, but he also gave me some new ones as well. Three of the new ones were what I had suggested to him; magnetic volleyballs. The metal weight has 7 different seals on the outside of it. After pressing one, I had discovered that the seals determined its magnetic power. I had pressed the first one, so only my weapons had been atrracted to it. Who knows what would happen when I pressed the seventh seal.

Temou said he had been working on them the night after I had suggested it. He was the only one I could compare to my actual father.

"Oh, that reminds me," Asuma commented, tossing me three large blue pills. Making a disgusted face, I hesitantly swallowed them. I had always hated taking pills. Taking a big drink of water from my water bottle, I said thanks.

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked, eyeing the multiple bandages on my leg and arms. The suspense was probably killing him.

"You were out for like... A week," Ino added.

"Yeah, they didn't let us see you, because you were recovering," Choji said, chewing on some beef jerky.

"An accident with the volleybombs," I dismissed. Shikamaru looked at me skeptically, but the other two seemed satisfied with my answer.

"I doubt that." Well, fuck you too, Pineapple.

"Then doubt it. It's the truth," I retorted. He shook his head, but let it go.

Asuma had us run through some drills. That was it. Drills. I was getting fed up with this weak stuff. I'm really, _really_ glad I asked Anko to help.

Asuma wasn't really the one to yell,(except for hospital rooms) so he just muttered the formations and the team had to hope that one of us could hear him. He had actually just muttered something.

"Did anyone catch it?" Shikamaru asked, sweating a little from having to jog back and forth into different positions. Ino and I shook our heads.

"Golden Paw formation," Choji said, quietly but loud enough for us to hear him. We all formed a slight curve in front of Asuma. Given that Asuma gave the wackiest names to simple things, I didn't blame Choji for being quiet about it. Asuma opened his mouth again, and again, something garbled came out. I didn't waste time telling them what he had said, though.

"Western Mousetrap." We all staggered near one another, to Asuma's left. Ino, being closest to him, looked confused.

"What's wrong, Ino?" I asked, curious to her confused look.

"He just said to defend Choji," she answered. Not wasting any time, we formed a triangle around Choji, who had been behind Ino. Asuma got up from where he'd been sitting under the tree.

"Great teamwork. We'll get our first D-Ranked mission tomorrow, so be prepared. This practice is finished. Kabucha, it's 9:25," he concluded. With a pale face, I sprinted to the training ground where Anko was at, silently noting that the large shield on my head didn't fall off at all during team practice or running.

"First off, you're right on time, so catch your breath," Anko commented from a boulder, "Second off, what the hell are you wearing?" Anko wasn't looking too hot either. Instead of flashing her boobs through the mesh top she always wore, she now had bandages all along her chest.

"Someone gave it to me after hearing what happened. They didn't want me to get hurt again," I answered, itching beneath the bandages on my arms.

"Whatever, as long as it doesn't get in your way. First off, before we begin, we're going over some things." She waited until I nodded to confirm what she said. "Alright, no more spiky bombs; save those for the Chuunin Exams. We want to keep that a secret, so hush hush. Second, I see seals on that hat. What's in them?"

"My, er... Spiky bombs and a few magnetic ones." Anko scratched under her bandages nonchalantly.

"Show me a magnet one," she demanded. Tapping a seal on the edge of the hat, I willed(asked) my chakra to flow into it. Cutting off the flow after a second, I held a magnetic volleyball in my hand. All three of them had the same 7 seals on them. Anko motioned for me to toss it to her and I did.

"Shrimp, who made these seals?" I scratched my leg bandages awkwardly.

"I, um... Don't know." Anko gave me a sharp and incredulous look. It was true though. Temou told me that he always had other people put the seals on.

"'You don't know?' Shrimp, you shitting me?" She asked. "How can you not know?"

"Well... My bomb supplier says he gets the seals done from someone else." I don't know if 'bomb supplier' was the right term for Temou. More like... Unrelated, over protective, shopkeeper.

"Well, whoever did these seals... They did them well. I don't see any marks that could suggest a defective bomb..."

"Er... Thanks?"

"Shut up, Shrimp. Now, about that suicidal action," I winced. "Don't you ever pull that off again. My back feels like shit. I wish Konoha had actual healers. Not this stitching shit." Silently agreeing, I scratched my bandages again. _I want better bandages._

When Anko fell silent, we began. She had me run 7 miles(11.265 kilometers) while she was throwing kunai at me. After I survived the run, she had me go through a rigorous and tiring session of katas, fighting, and jutsu, that she called 'training.'

I called it 'hell.'

"Stop!" Pausing halfway through the clone technique, I looked at her confused.

"What?" I asked, trying to remember if I had forgotten anything. Do katas, do handseals really fast on ninjutsu techniques, run 7 miles(11.265 kilometers).

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You keep hesitating before you perform a jutsu. What's up with that, Shrimp?" She demanded. Oh, it was my chakra. I had been getting better with manipulating it, but I still wasn't at a normal level.

"I have messed up chakra..." I finally spilled. She scrunched her face up.

"What? Like that gay guy in the leotard?" Was she talking about Guy?

"Uh... Sure. My chakra doesn't want to completely listen to me... So I kind of have to talk to it?" My voice got squeaker towards the end of the sentence, from embarrassment.

"Well... That's problematic. Got any other strengths besides your bombs and taijutsu?" Anko asked, brows furrowed. She did say 'any strengths.' Well... Eh.

"I can sing?" I offered. She shook her head, instantly declining the 'strength.'

"Unless we can find a seal master in Konoha to put an amplification seal on your throat, then that's out. What else?" I racked my brain. I knew English and a bit of Spanish... Did those count?

"I can speak a different language..." I said, hesitantly.

"Which one?" She asked, half curious and half not.

"Español," I offered. She looked so confused, like she couldn't believe I had just said that.

"Huh?" Anko said after a while. Sighing, I shook my head.

"Nevermind." I didn't actually say 'Spanish,' because 'Español' sounded cooler. I had done my research and figured out that everyone in the Elemental Nations spoke the same language. How lame was that? No variety or anything.

"Well, Shrimp. No ninjutsu in the Chuunin Exams, if you know what's good for you. The slightest hesitation could get you killed. Stick with those bombs of yours and taijutsu," she ended. From then on, we just worked on taijutsu and the art of placing bombs. At the end of practice, I asked her opinion on which bomb I should try to get next.

"Stick with what you got. It won't do you any good facing an enemy-nin and not knowing how to use a certain bomb. Maybe, just maybe... If you pass the Chuunin Exams, I'll help you out on your next bomb," she informed me, smirking. This brought a whole new reason to get stronger and smarter.

"Thanks, Anko-sensei. Um... I can't train tomorrow." She shot me a bewildered look.

"Why not, Shrimp?"

"I have a D-Rank mission with my team." To my surprise, she didn't dismiss it, but she started laughing!

"What? What is it?" I demanded. She stopped chuckling long enough to tell me.

"D-Ranks aren't anything special, Shrimp. It's mostly painting fences and helping out old coots. A C-Rank is what you want... But the Chuunin Exams are a month away and Asuma is really lazy. Good luck, Shrimp. I'll see you in two days." She dissapeared in a Flash sort of way. Was she The Flash? She certainly didn't look like the superhero. Also, was that a learnable technique?

She had left me, leaving me to my thoughts. I truly didn't know why my chakra was messed up. It was weird, because the chakra 'agreed' to flow only if I was using the seals Temou made. The only reason I could use it besides that, is because I had to manipulate it. Not manipulate as in change and form it. Manipulate as in trick it.

What do I do now? Naruto and his team were away on a C-Rank mission, while my team was just now getting our first D-Rank tomorrow. Training with Anko was definetly a smart move. I needed experience to survive. I wonder if the people of Konoha have ever known what it was like to be taken from their homes.

Of course not.

This village was like a 1st world country. No one here was starving. Not even the orphans.

My thoughts were scrambled, random. Maybe it was because I had nothing to do. Maybe thinking was what I needed to do.

Oh my gosh. I hadn't even realized it, but I had woken up before I could see the next Star Wars movie. My mood darkened and I think I died a little inside. I had only been able to see a trailer of it and it looked awesome. My entire family was Star Wars fans. Even my mother, believe it or not.

I gloomily walked off the boulder I had been standing on and made my way back to the village. My round, metal 'hat,' shaded me from the hot blistering sun. While this helped prevent a sunburn, it did nothing to lighten my mood. I started humming the Star Wars theme song, hoping it would help. It only did a little.

"What's the news?" Temou asked, watching me from the front desk.

"The news is..." I almost wanted to cry. There was so many things I missed. Artificial flavoring, however bad that may be, soft drinks, volleyball, candy, cars, my family, the list could go on and on. "The news is that my new hat is awesome!"

"While I appreciate the enthusiasm, I can see that somethings bothering you, Kabucha." I knew he wouldn't buy it. Unsealing my drawing, I pulled up a spare stool and sat at the counter, across from Temou.

"You guessed it," I said, I hadn't noticed it before, but Konoha didn't have the same problems that America did. They didn't have drug problems, no debt to other countries, no global warming... At least not yet.

"Does it have to do with your picture?" He guessed, looking it over again. I nodded and flipped it to the side with skyscrappers.

"Temou... What if I told you that iron birds existed?" I asked, pointing at the plane. He snorted.

"As fun as that sounds, I'd have to say they aren't real, Kabucha." My shoulders slumped.

"That's what I thought..." Temou scratched his head. After discussing what happened during each other's day, I sealed the drawing and made to leave.

"Kabucha, I know the Chuunin Exams are coming up... Be careful."

"You know I always am," I replied immediately, mind taken off Star Wars. My mood had lightened somewhat. Before he could say anything else, I tipped my hat and pushed the door open, walking out onto the dirt roads of Konoha.

Maybe Konoha wasn't such a bad place after all. America and Konoha had different problems to deal with, so I just wasn't used to it. After four years of living in it, it still felt foreign. Loyalty was something I would just have to live with. After all, I didn't want to be tracked by a jounin from Konoha. They were very powerful.

My first D-Rank was laughable. As Anko had said, we actually had to paint a fence. The payout was respectively 2,000 ryo, because painting a fence was literally something anybody could do.

"What're you humming?" Choji asked, painting the green on the ugly yellow fence of Mrs. Yig's fence. I didn't want to say Star Wars. It was too precious to tell anyone else. Star Wars was sacred to me, just like my old name.

"Nothing, really," I assured. I had finished my portion of the fence 5 minutes ago and was waiting for everyone else to finish. I had gotten bored, so I had been humming the new Star Wars theme song from the trailer. Even though it had been years ago, I had never forgotten it.

"It's catchy," Ino commented, miraculously keeping green paint out of her hair, despite her splashing it everywhere. "Does it have words?"

"No. It's just a tune."

"Okay." We dropped it after that, because who carries on a conversation about a song? Not us.

After the mission, we turned in a short report to the Hokage, who, in turn, gave us each 2,000 ryo.

"Thank you, Team Ten. You may leave, except for Ono-san." They gave me a curious look, but shrugged it off after I told them it was fine.

"What is this about, Hokage-sama?" I asked, taking a seat in front of his desk after they left.

"Ono-san, there is nothing to be worried about. I just want to talk to you about this." He reached into one of his drawers and pulled out a copy of 'The Holocaust.' My face paled, but I tried to play it off.

"Isn't that Nirogazi's book?" The Hokage's eyes sharpened and he made eye contact with me, our respective hats mimicking each other in style.

"I know full and well that this isn't by 'Nirogazi.' It's by you, Ono-san. Tell me, how does a genin such as yourself, know of such things, hmm?" He asked, calmly. Of course he would be calm. He was the Hokage.

"My imagination is vivid, Hokage-sama."

"A real answer, Ono-san. Don't take this situation lightly," he demanded.

"Hokage-sama... I was looking to make money, and I thought that writing a book would probably help."

"Why did you write about this, Ono-san? Of all the topics, why choose this one?"

"You know what being miserable is, Hokage-sama? Despair? Hopelessness? Uselessness? Getting treated like garbage, because of something you've done your whole life, something that nobody thought of bad up until a certain point?" I started, oddly calm despite my predicament. The Hokage tipped his hat up with a frown.

"I do know what uselessness is. I have felt it before," he answered, trying to find a valid reason to my questions within his thoughts.

"The people in the Elemental Nations do not know what it's like to truly be helpless. That is why I wrote this book. To open people's eyes, to show them what could happen if the wrong man was given power." The Hokage was silent for a while, leaving me sitting in a chair that was older than I was.

"How could you know such things?" He finally asked. "How can you describe what most of my ANBU cannot?"

"They've never been helpless. They've always had hope, always had something to fight for. When you are getting beaten to the brink of death for even saying something, you generally don't want to speak again. When they grow up in the sheltered village of Konoha, they generally don't know what 'starving' means."

"Thank you... Ono-san, for sharing your insight. The truth is, the minute it was brought to my attention, it was not hard finding out who the funds were actually going to. Before you go, your mind will be inspected to make sure you are mentally stable." What? Did something happen in Konoha? Was someone not mentally stable and something bad happened? Or maybe he was just worried for me? Many possibilities, the there were. How did I start thinking like Yoda? Whatever, it was awesome.

"How are you going to 'inspect' my mind?"

"Inoichi? You can come in now," the Hokage said, loudly. The door opened and Ino's dad walked in. I had met him when I was meeting my teammates' parents, so his appearance didn't faze me.

Different from his daughter, Ino, he had green eyes instead of blue. His long blonde hair fell in a ponytail behind his head and he wore his hitai-ate on his forehead. He wore the standard best that Konoha jounin typically wore.

"You may begin, Inoichi-san," the Hokage said, calmly. Whoa, whoa, whoa! He was going into my mind? Maybe my metal hat would stop his jutsu, like Magneto's did with Charles Xavier.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." I was powerless to stop it. Maybe I could think of things to distract him, while he read my mind? Wait. Did any of my actual life give anything away as to who I was? Before I could think of anything from the old world that could give me away, Inoichi bent down and put a hand on my head, sending me into a dark abyss.


	10. A Truth Finally Told

**AN: Thank you for the positive review, kani-leek-lover. Thanks again for the reviews, follows, and favorites! Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 10**

My eyes opened, but it was still pitch black. Looking around to see if I was in a dream, I spotted a figure in front of me, Inoichi.

"Where are we?" I asked, though I think I already knew the answer.

"Your mind," he answered, calmly, like the Hokage. Looking over myself, I saw that I still had my normal clothes on, plus my hat. Weird.

"Then why are you here?" I questioned, pointing at him briefly.

"Do you not remember, child? The Hokage asked me to examine your memories; see if anything's... Out of whack." He spun his finger around the side of his head, motioning the 'crazy' sign.

"I'm no more a child than you are a traitor." Glaring at me, he lost the whole friendly façade.

"I'm not a tra-"

"Exactly," I inturrupted, earning a smile from him.

"Clever..." He commented, looking around. I couldn't find whatever he was looking for. Everything was black.

"Can I tell you which ones I want you to see?" I asked, hopefully. Along with the memory of my knee buckling in on itself, there was the memory of pain. He glanced at me, turning his head to the side.

"Now, you're making yourself suspicious." Not waiting for my reaction, he waved his hand. I felt a rippling force go through my head. It wasn't painful, yet it wasn't enjoyable either. Pictures suddenly appeared out of the blackness. Pictures of me. Pictures of the Old World.

"Isn't this an invasion of privacy?" I commented, knowing he wouldn't stop either way. He didn't even look at me.

"Not if its for the greater good." He waved his hand a few times, swiping downwards. It looked like he found what he was looking for, because he clicked on the picture of me playing basketball at the YMCA.

 _"Oh wait, I forgot my water," I told Dad, as we were outside the YMCA, making our way to his Avalanche. He rolled his eyes, overdramatically, causing a 12-year old me to smile._

 _"Go in and get it. Hurry or I might leave without you," he said, still walking to the car._

"Can you experience the pain in these memories?" I inturrupted, standing by Inoichi. He nodded and played the memory again. Good. This is what you get for messing with my head.

"And so can you." I didn't care. I knew the pain all too well.

 _Running inside the YMCA, I passed the lady sitting at the front counter, who didn't look up as I ran by. I made my way to the far end of the empty basketball court and grabbed my plastic water bottle. Pivoting, I sprinted back, not knowing the pain to come._

 _Halfway down the court, my right knee gave out. It felt like somebody had grabbed my kneecap, and yanked it to the inside of my leg. My entire weight went down on it, and before I knew it, I was on the floor._

Looking up at Inoichi, I saw his face was contorted into pain. As the seconds drew by, the 12 year old me got up and painfully made her way to the exit, tears streaming down her face. Inoichi slowly got his pain under control.

 _I hobbled to the end of the court, crying out in pain. What had just happened? Opening the doors to the exit, I grabbed onto the counter and limped towards the outside doors. The girl behind the register didn't say a word, only watched me with a blank expression. She could've helped me, right? Finally, I inched my way outside, the cool night air making my tears cold._

 _"Dad!" I cried out, slowly limping to the car. He didn't answer. "Dad!" I yelled, louder. I was in pain and shock from what had happened._

 _"Teagen!" He said loudly, not quite a yell. "What happened? Why're you crying?"_

Inoichi ended the memory, silently.

"What? Don't like pain?" I joked. He looked at me with a blank expression, not saying anything. He clicked on another memory, this time though, it was volleyball.

 _"Alright, self toss from the front row!" Coach yelled to the team. I grabbed a ball and reminded my self to land with my feet apart, weight on both sides. Grabbing a volleyball, I stood at the ten-foot line with my teammates, none of whom I was close friends to._

 _Tossing the ball nice and high, I took a three-step approach and jumped, hitting the ball. It went into the net, much to my disappointment. When I landed, my right knee went out much more painfully than the last 4 times. I had jumped and landed on it, so it was suddenly a lot more weight than before, because of the jump._

 _As the times before, my kneecap slid outside its socket and my weight went crashing down on it. I was quick to shut my mouth, not wanting my teammates to hear any sounds of pain. I balled myself up, holding my knee tightly. The kneecap always went back into place after a couple of seconds._

 _"Teagen, you okay?" Coach asked suddenly, seeing my body on the ground. One of the moms on the sideline notice my tears._

 _"Oh no..." One of them muttered. Looking around with a tearful face, I saw my team had stopped tossing and were looking at me. My face burned from tears and embarrassment._

 _"I think she's twisted her knee again," someone said. Coach knelt down next to me._

 _"Do you think you can move?" She asked. I nodded and hobbled my way up, using her as a support._

 _"Are you hurting?" One of the moms asked. "I can go get you some ice from Sonic," she offered. I shook my head. These weren't tears of pain; they were tears of frustration._

"Stop!" I yelled. Inoichi glanced at me with an unreadable expression.

"I know these memories hurt, but I have to look at them. Trust me, they hurt me too," he assured. I pointed an angry finger at him.

"Who do you think you are, bringing up my most painful memories like this, huh?! Those were buried for a reason. So I wouldn't bring them up!" He shook his head, frowning.

"I apologize, Ono-san. Or should I say, 'Teagen?'" I stopped pointing at him and crossed my arms.

"Yeah, so?" I demanded, not looking him in the eye.

"This life isn't the one in Konoha. You're from a very different place. Another life," he finally spilled.

"So? You gonna put me on trial because I woke up in this life? I didn't choose to be here, you know." This peaked his interest, because he waved his hand and the image of 15-year old me with a puffy face dissapeared.

"You woke up in Konoha?" I huffed, still angry.

"Yeah. That's what I said. This isn't my body though. I don't know where my real one is. And before you go thinking I snatched some little girl's body, let me correct you. I involuntary woke up 4 years ago in an orphanage. I had a family. You saw it! Why would I give that up?" I exclaimed. He nodded slowly, watching my annoyed expression turn into a sad one.

"Even though I now have this piece of information, I still have to see if you're mentally stable." I had an 'aha' moment, and actually said, 'aha!'

"What?" He asked, raising and eyebrow at my sudden mood change.

"I know just the memory for that, well memories. Can I?" He nodded and told me to do it like he had been doing it. Pulling the memories back up, I scolled through them and landed on one in volleyball practice.

"What's so special about this one?" He questioned, looking at the image of me about to hit a volleyball. I started chuckling at the memory to come.

"It's funny. Watch." He turned to the memory in question and watched with me silently.

 _I passed the volleyball to Sarah, who in turn, spiked it back at me, hitting me in the face. I held my face and started laughing, ignoring the ball that ricoched off to the side of the court. Sarah's smile was instant, and she tried to keep herself from giggling._

 _"Are... Are you okay, Teagen?" I looked up at her from my hands and nodded with a chuckle. No doubt my face was probably red._

 _"Teagen, you okay?" Coach asked from the sidelines, looking up from the clipboard where she had been writing the starting lineups. I gave her a goofy nod, resulting in Coach muttering something and looking back at the clipboard._

 _I got the ball back from where it was two courts over and tossed it to Sarah. We passed and set each other without incident, until..._

 _Sarah set me a high ball and I spiked it to her. I was aiming towards her chest, but it hit her in the face instead. The ball ended up in Coach's arms, who was watching Sarah and I doubled over in laughter at the irony of the situation._

"What does this prove?" I looked at him from the corner of my eye, barely able to see him past my hat.

"Nothing. It was funny to relive the memory though. Thanks."

"All this time... I haven't been able to understand what they," he motioned to the memory, "were saying. Different language?" Why'd he ask me? Of course it was a different language.

"Yep." He looked at my hat, because he couldn't see my face from his vantage point.

"What do you call it?" He asked, intrigued. I could see that his arms were crossed and one hand had gone to his face, though I couldn't see where. He was probably rubbing his (non existent) beard, like Obi-Wan Kenobi or Asuma.

"English." After watching the rest of my memories in this world, he waved a hand and we were cast into darkness once more.

"You are not to tell anyone of any of this. Understood?"

"Understood. Not even the Hokage?" I thought the Hokage knew all the secrets.

"No, we'll tell the Hokage," he replied, nodding slightly. With a snap of his fingers, we opened our eyes and were back in the Hokage's office. Seeing our eyes open, the Hokage leaned forward in his chair, anticipating information.

"Kabucha or Teagen," Inoichi started. I tuned them out, not wanting to talk. Instead, I focused on the memory of Sarah and I passing the ball to each other. How simple it had been; who knew that it would be a precious memory afterwards? Not me. I wonder what the Hokage would do. He couldn't kill me, since technically, I don't think I was in violation of any of Konoha's laws. At least, not yet.

"Interesting..." The wrapped up, with the Hokage speaking to me at last. "Another world, eh? Hehe..." He gave a dry chuckle. "I wouldn't believe it if Inoichi-san didn't just tell me." Then he lowered his body and rummaged through one of his draws on his desk. After a couple seconds of searching, he came back up with a pipe and a large scroll. How that scroll fit in that tiny desk, I'll never know.

"Before I let you leave-"

"Whoa, whoa! After I tell you I'm from another world, you're going to just let me 'leave?'" I asked, astonished. Tipping my hat up, I looked into the Hokage's eyes, trying to see if maybe he was crazy or something. I didn't find anything though.

"Well, what else can I do, Ono-san? We don't have a means of transportation to send you back to your world. I doubt anyone in the Elemental Nations has ever experienced anything like this, so I-" I lowered my hat. My last hope at getting home had _vanished_.

"Kabucha-chan," the Hokage called. Tears that I didn't know I had, started forming in my eyes. Inoichi stood there, like a good jounin and didn't show any emotion to having a child tear up.

" _Kabucha_ ," I looked at him, pushing my hat up so I could see his face.

"What?" I asked, voice cracking for the first time in years. His face softened, wrinkles clearly showing and tired eyes watching someone who couldn't return home.

"I don't think I'll ever understand the pain you have been going through," he started. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. Did I hear that right? The Hokage said that _I_ had felt greater pain than him, the _Hokage_?

"What?" I asked again, this time confused. He stood up from his oak desk, and turned to look at the windows behind him.

"Konoha has always been my home and I love it here. I was born and raised here, trained to be a shinobi here, even _married_ here. You however," he looked at me from the corner of his eye. "You were born in this, 'America,'" I would've laughed at the way he said it if I hadn't been so sad. "You were raised in 'America.' And then you were taken from it and landed in Konoha." He turned to face me fully.

"You were taken from a place where you cannot return. And for that, I respect you." My tears had dried up, and I was so confused. The Hokage respected me, a genin? What?

"Why would you respect me? I'm a crybaby, an orphan." His eyes went hard, yet his expression remained neutral and soft.

"Naruto is an orphan and I have seen him do great things. Do not 'downgrade' yourself because you have no family. My reason for respecting you, is this." I looked at 'The Holocaust' that he was pointing at. "All the shinobi that you will or have met, do not know this pain. The agony of starvation. The knowledge of misused power through tyranny and dictatorship. The anguish of their loved ones being cut down, unable to help them."

"But, it's just a boo-" I tried, but he cut me off. His voice was sharper than the old man that I had met. This was a _true_ leader, the one needed to run Konoha.

"No! Teagen!" I winced when he called me this. Why would I let the Hokage say my name when I wouldn't let Temou say it? "You were taken from your home. If this happened to me, I would be strong. But I would get weak as well. You, you showed no signs of being different in the years that I've known you. You hide your fear well." I opened my mouth, but Inoichi got to it first.

"Hokage-sama, what will we do about her? What will happen once the Council finds out?" He asked, breaking the silence that he once had. The Hokage leaned on his desk with both hands and blew through his pipe. When he had lit it, I don't know.

"The Council, will not be finding out about this, because this will be an S-Ranked secret. Do you understand, Inoichi-san?" Looking up, I saw Inoichi's eyes had hardened, but that was all that has changed.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"And Kabucha, you will speak of this to no one. The only time you may speak about it, is when you are alone with either me or Inoichi-san." He paused, waiting.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Nodding, the Hokage sat back down at his desk, blowing through his pipe.

"Before you leave, Ono-san," Ah, he had gone back to my last name now, huh? "Can you tell me about your world, if that's okay with you?" I shrugged and pushed my hat back up from where it had been shielding my vision of him. Inoichi and I both took a seat across from the Hokage.

"Well?" I asked. They looked at me, confused.

"Well what?" Inoichi questioned.

"What do you want me to tell you?" I explained. A look of understanding passed through them.

"Is the sky the same?" The Hokage asked, randomly. Inoichi looked confused that he would ask something like that, but the Hokage 'shhed' him and Inoichi remained silent. Chuckling, I thought of how to explain the 'sky.'

"My world has made many discoveries about the sky, but we have not found them all. Do you understand?" The Hokage nodded rapidly, despite him being 50-something.

"What type of discoveries?" Inoichi asked, losing the formality vibe. The Hokage and him were now interested. _Interested in me._

 _"_ Um... The Sun can burn things if they get to close," I said, not knowing how to explain everything. Inoichi shook his head.

"Impossible. Nothing can get close to it. It's considered an untouchable thing." Well... He was partly right. I shook my head back at him.

"No. My country has gone to the Moon." They both gawked at me, eyes wide.

"The Moon?" The Hokage whispered.

"How?" Inoichi asked. I explained as much as I could about rockets, despite not really knowing how it worked, but I think I got the message through. After the sky, they asked me about how we got around if we didn't run, planes, and skyscrappers. They were in awe of how there was only a couple of wars going on around the world. I didn't tell them that the world was round though. I would let them figure it out.

"Hokage-sama, Inoichi-sama, thank you for listening," I said getting up. We had just finished the discussion of my world and I felt much better.

"Anytime, Ono-san." Looking to Inoichi, he nodded silently. I left the room after the Hokage reminded me to keep it a secret.

"Kabucha, why'd it take so long?" Ino asked, looking up from where she had been filing her nails. Shikamaru was waking up from a nap and Choji was eating food. Asuma had woken up from a nap as well. They had been waiting in the waiting area below the Hokage's office. Blinking, I rubbed my eyes.

"You... You guys stayed?" I asked, not believing what I was seeing. I had to have been in there for at least three hours.

"Well... Yeah," Shikamaru answered, watching me from his seat. Everyone got up and stretched, joints popping for sitting so long.

"We were thinking we should eat as a team, you know, Kabucha?" Choji stated, pausing in his eating. Asuma smiled at the kind words of the team, but chose not to say anything.

"Yeah, let's eat," I agreed, slowly smiling at my team. I didn't have a family, but I bet this was the closest I was going to get to one. On the way to the restraunt, I made up a reason I had been so long, saying that they had to correct some information on my file and retake my picture because I had grown quickly.

Watching secretly from a magic ball, the Hokage smiled. Inoichi had remained in the office. They were both thinking over what the young girl had told them.

"But... Buildings that touch the sky?" Inoichi repeated for the second time, also watching Team Ten walk to a barbecue restraunt.

"Inoichi," He perked up at when the Hokage didn't add an honorific, "That girl, Teagen, I believe that she will heal and in time, grow to be a magnificent kunoichi." Inoichi scrutinized Teagen's large, metal hat.

"Me as well, Hokage-sama."


	11. Exams

**AU: I know this chapter came out late and I'm sorry. I needed to think about what would come next, you know? It was a little writers' block. Thanks for all the reviews, kani-leek-lover and Art Is An Eternal Bang. Thanks for the favorite and follows as well. Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 11**

Ovee the course of a month, I slowly, but steadily progressed my skills. Team formations could be applied to a battle when Shikamaru called them. Despite not wanting to be team leader, Shikamaru was involuntarily appointed the position by a pushy Asuma. The two had always played the board game, Shogi, after practice. I was only told of this when Ino complained about him always being lazy in practice, yet still having enough energy to play "a stupid board game." I guess Shikamaru was a super genius or something, because when the question of who the team's leader would be, Asuma immediately picked him with no hesitation.

My taijutsu rank had rounded off to low Chuunin when Anko decided to test it. My weights were heavier than ever and the pressure to complete Anko's practices was always high. My will to complete them however, was not. I was never one to complain though. One time, Anko had me sprinting on the side of trees, with triple the weights on. Needless to say, Gravity was not my friend that day. I didn't dare to complain if I couldn't ask questions. She had been serious about the 'no question' policy, so I had to catch every word she said the first time, or I would be at a loss.

I had never gotten a good chance to rekindle the fires of friendship that had been flickering over the month. Naruto and I were probably still in a good relationship, considering we came from the same orphanage. I didn't know where Shino and I stood; if we were still awkward friends or just acquaintances now, since we never saw each other anymore. I hoped that would change, because Shino and I clicked... Or at least I think we did. While I was confused about Shino, I wasn't confused with Asuma or Anko. They were both teacher figures in my life and would probably stay that way, until I got to Chuunin rank.

Temou and I were like father and daughter. Although, I don't know if he tolerated me like a daughter... I know I treated him like my dad.

Inoichi and the Hokage were both a little less than friends, but a little more than acquaintances, know what I mean? It was to the point where I could say hi and ask them normal questions, but I felt like I couldn't go in depth with it. They were complicated.

XXX

Inoichi watched the owner of the large, iron hat from the trees. She was just relaxing with her teammates, minus his daughter. Ino was currently stalking the Uchiha along with the other fangirls he was known to have.

So far, Kabucha (or Teagen) hadn't shown any sign of being mentally unstable. It was something he hadn't told the Hokage, something he knew he should keep to himself until the time to tell came. A couple of Kabucha's memories of her Old World had been interesting enough to keep tabs on her.

 _We were in geometry. Well, everyone else was. I was counting how many ceiling tiles there were, while the teacher 'taught' material we had learned in 8th grade. I had been put in a class of idiots. Twiddling my thumbs was all I could do to pass the time. I couldn't get on my phone, couldn't play games, couldn't talk._

 _Noticing the lack of my teacher's annoying voice, I glanced up and saw that she had put the assignment on the board. I opened my book. Taking out a sheet of paper, I wrote my heading and the page number in pencil. Without hesitation, my pencil flew down the paper, leaving neatly spaced answers in its wake._

 _"You're done already?" A girl besides me asked. I put on a sheepish smile and nodded a little._

 _"Yeah." I hadn't bothered to learn her name, seeing as how she had gotten held back three grades._

 _"You're really smart," she stated, turning back to her work. I said 'thank you' quietly, wanting to be humble._

 _The day after that, I had gotten a hundred on the homework._

Inoichi wondered if this girl was mentally stable. That memory was one of many like it, where she had finished an assignment under mere minutes, not stopping to ask questions or think about what she was actiually doing, and the next day, she always got a 100 or a 98% on it. It wasn't just in geometry; it was in all her courses. Pre-AP Chemistry, Geometry, World History, Pre-AP English II, Pre-AP Spanish II, you name it.

From what he could tell, the girl had had no actual friends in her old world; just people to talk to. By the way they talked, he saw that they often cussed at her, trying to play it off as a joke, but she would cuss right back, telling them it wasn't funny and giving them the cold shoulder, resulting in her sitting somewhere else.

Inoichi hoped that she wouldn't feel the same way here. Even though she was a 19-year old in a 12-year old's body, he thought that maybe this would be an opportunity for her to form better relationships. Only Kami knew what would happen if she turned out like Uchiha Itachi. He was a genius as well as her, yet she was still mentally stable, as far as Inoicci knew.

XXX

"Can we go in?" I asked, impatiently waiting for the door guard's response. Team Ten was currently in the Academy, standing in front of the doors that led to the beginning of the Chuunin Exams. The door numbers were mixed up as far as I could tell, but upon further inspection, we realized that this _was_ the right door.

"Don't you see the number, kid?" One of the guards sneered, pointing out the shimmery number above the door, "Scram!"

"Why're you guarding it then? The Chuunin Exams would be heavily guarded against unwanted visitors, and I don't see any other doors being guarded," Shikamaru pointed out. Ino smirked, while Choji ate his regular bag of chips.

"You caught us, kid. You can go in," one of the door guards said, clearly not caring. As we started walking in, one of them stopped me.

"What's with the metal hat? Looking to draw attention?" He asked. I shrugged.

"It's a shield." He shook his head and let me go, muttering about getting killed during the first exam.

When we walked in, we were greeted by all kinds of people. Tall, short, fat, skinny, clothes covering their faces, some covered in just rags, a hitai-ate, and a weapons pouch. There were shinobi from Suna, Cloud, Kumo... And the others. I only remembered those three because Suna was Spanish for sand... I think, Shikamaru watched the clouds a lot, and Kumo sounded like sumo.

"Hey guys!" Kiba yelled from across the room. We quickly made our way over to the team's from Konoha. Kiba's team and another team I didn't recognize were there. Forgetting them, I sort of stood by Shino, while making sure I knew what was going on with my team, too.

"So... What's new?" I asked, quietly, watching Ino and Kiba get into a fight already. Hinata was watching from near Kiba, but away from Shino and I. Huh, weird.

Shino turned his sunglassed face to me in question.

"Were you asking me?" I rolled my eyes and made to pat his back, only to remember what had happened last time.

"Er... Yeah, I mean... Who else?" I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

"Well... We have not developed any new tactics as of yet. I may or may not be telling the truth, seeing as how I'm predicting that we will go against each other when this exam starts." I blinked at his sudden informative mini speech.

"You've opened up, you know that, Shino?" I wasn't clear on if I was allowed to say his name with or without honorifics, so I just rolled without them. If he didn't like it, he could always correct me.

"Thank you, Kabucha-san." It was at this moment that Team 7 made their entrance, walking in the exam room. Naruto, with his trademark grin, started yelling at something Kiba had said and in turn, Kiba abandoned Ino and started a verbal battle with Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura were standing in the little group of Konoha genin that had formed.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino yelled with a grin and threw herself on him. "Did you miss me? Because I missed you, Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke immediately freed himself of Ino with a 'Hn.' Looking to Sakura, I saw she was smirking at what had happened to Ino. I didn't give much thought to it though.

"You know, you guys might want to keep it down," a new voice said. Shino stepped back so I could see, and also because Choji had been about to eat a bug. Ew.

The new guy was as tall as I was and wore basic, purple and grey clothes clothes. He had his Konoha hitai-ate on his forehead and had grey spiky hair that drooped down, kind of like Kakashi. On his face were huge, round spectacles, like Harry Potter.

"Who're you?" I asked, not liking that he had waltzed in out of no where. He looked at me, his eyes lingering on the big, round, metal shield on my head.

"Yakushi Kabuto and you?" He replied, still interested in my headwear.

"Ono Kabucha." He smiled lightly. Off to the side, Shikamaru glared at me for some reason.

"You don't look 12," Shikamaru stated, crossing his arms. Kabuto looked at Shikamaru and nodded.

"That's right. I'm actually 14." Seeing our confused looks, he continued. "I've failed the Chuunin Exams 7 times." What? Was it that hard?

"Anyway, do you guys want some help? I've got cards on everyone here, so ask me about someone, and I'll bring up their information." Huh?

"Cards?" I repeated. He pulled out a little over a deck of cards and knelt down on the ground.

"Yeah. For instance, I have a card on you, Ono Kabucha." Swiping the top card off the stack, he turned it over and started reading. Looking around, I saw that the cards had caught some attention, as well as my large 'hat.'

"Ono Kabucha. Genin of the Leaf Village on Team Ten with Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino, and Nara Shikamaru with the jounin instructed being Sarutobi Asuma. You've gone on 23 D-Ranks and no other type of mission. Oh?" My eyes snapped from where they'd been looking to the onlookers in the room to Kabuto's card. When I saw what it was, I grabbed the card from Kabuto.

"Where did you get _that_ information?" I demanded. He shrugged.

"I thought it was common knowledge that you were an orphan." I had half a mind to slap him.

"I'll be keeping this, Yakushi-san." He shrugged again.

"Anyone else want to read a card about someone in this room? I have nearly everyone here." Sasuke asked about a guy with red hair and green eyes from Suna, while I ignored it. Kabuto told him about a guy named Gaara from Suna and that he had siblings. Nothing really exciting happened until Kabuto got attacked by a Sound-nin.

I watched it with my own eyes. The Sound-nin had come out of no where and thrown a punch at Kabuto. Kabuto stepped back to avoid the punch.

"You might want to work on your aim," Kabuto said. To my surprise, the Sound-nin started laughing instead of getting offended. Before I knew what happened, one of Kabuto's lenses cracked and blood dripped down his nose.

"I never miss." Looking from Kabuto's bloody nose to the Sound-nin, I tilted my head.

"How'd you do that?" I asked. He scoffed and pointed at my hat.

"I'll only tell if you tell me why you're wearing that." I shook my head. Eventually Shikamaru or me will figure it out. He shrugged his shoulders, proving his point. His entire face was covered except for his eyes and he wore lots of fur as far as I coul tell. His entire head was covered with cloth.

"Alright, maggots!" Someone yelled, opening the closed door. "I'm only saying this once!" Everyone stopped their chatter and looked at him, the Sound-nun walking back over to his team.

"You'll be given a ticket with a number on it! Sit at the seat with the same number! Failure to obey these rules will disqualify your team!" Easy enough. We got in a line and waited. When I took a ticket from him, I saw it was number 42. Bleh, nothing really special about it.

I took my seat in the corresponding chair and waited for everyone to sit down. Ino was at the very front of the room, Choji was in a different section behind me, and Shikamaru was 5 seats to my right. Along the walls, chuunin from Konoha sat with clipboards and paper, with a pen in each of their hands. Slowly, but surely, the empty chairs filled up.

To my left, was a girl with four blonde ponytails on the back of her head, Glancing at her hitai-ate, I saw she was from Suna. She carried what looked to be a large, black, chopstick holder on her back. Her clothing was purple, red, and grey colors. I guess you needed light colors to survive in Suna.

To my right, was a girl from Sound, judging from the music note on her forehead protecter. She had long black hair and wore a long yellowish tunic with a purple belt tied around her waist. She also sported black leggings.

They both have me a quick look and turned away. The Sand-nin was quicker to look away than the Sound-nin who looked at my hat with curiosity.

"It ain't a fashion trend, if that's what you're thinking," I stated. She was quick to laugh, covering up her staring.

"I didn't think it was." Her voice sounded scratchy, like she was recovering from a sore throat or something. "It's very interesting though."

"Yeah?" Everybody always thought the shield on my head was weird. Never interesting.

"Yes. It definetly isn't just to block out the sun. I bet it's a weapon." I looked at the Sound-nin from where I was staring at the back of Ino's head. She gave me a small smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"You've probably got some tricks hidden up your sleeve somewhere. Nobody's innocent." She didn't say anything after that, but she did make eye contact with me. Her brownish, blackish eyes seemed innocent, but I knew better. In a world full of killers, you had to assume everyone was one, to be precaucious.

"Alright, maggots!" The guy yelled. Seeing all the empty chairs filled, I assumed we were starting. "I'm Morino Ibiki, the proctor of the first exam. This is how it's going to go. We are going to hand out a text with 9 questions on it. Do not start unless instructed to. You will have exactly 1 hour to finish those 9 questions. At the end, we will give out the tenth question. If you miss the tenth question, you and your team will be banned from taking the Chuunin Exams ever again." Ever? Like, forever? What? Why ban ninja from becoming better ninja? The logic didn't add up.

"If you are caught cheating, 2 points will be deducted from your score. If 8 points are deducted, you and your team will be disqualified. Any questions?" I raised my hand, but he ignored it. "Good! Now, we will pass out the test. Do not start until instructed!" He repeated again. I put my hand down. Maybe he was like Anko and hated questions?

"You're confused?" The girl from Sound asked. I shook my head.

"I'll figure it out." We were handed out tests and a pencil. Once everyone was given them, Ibiki began the exam. Flipping the paper over, I looked at the problems.

 _1) It is noon. If ninja A is sitting on a 14 ft tree and throws a kunai that travels 40 ft before hitting ninja B in a field, what is the slope of the path of the kunai?_

 _2) Balance: Fe + Cl2 + 2H2O - Fe3Cl2 + 4H2O_

 _3) Who was the first Hokage? List his 3 greatest achievements and what year they happened in._

 _4) You're on a mission to escort a princess back to her kingdom. Under what circumstances would Shinobi Act #22 come into play? How should you handle the situation?_

 _5) You and your team have been captured by an enemy village. What rights are you entitled to if the enemy village is either Konohagakure or Kumogakure? What are they entitled to do to you?_

 _6) NaOH + H2SO4 - Na2SO4 + 2H2O_

 _a) If it is unbalanced, balance this chemical equation._

 _b) If you have 45 grams of sodium hydroxide, how many moles of Na2SO4 will be made?_

 _7) What action should you take if all your teammates (but you) are unable to make it back to your home village?_

 _8) Ninja A throws a smoke bomb at his feet. Assuming that ninja B isn't able to see ninja A anymore, how long will it take until ninja B is able to see ninja A? (Note: Ninja A has not moved from the spot that he was in.)_

 _9) What steps are made when summoning an animal contract? Is this different for any other type of summon? If so, how?_

Leaning back, I exhaled a breath I had been holding in. These were all things I had learned as a sophomore. I was grateful that this world didn't use Spanish. If they did, I bet it would be on here. Some of them, like 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9, were things that I had learned in the Academy. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Suna-non and the Sound-nin had already started on their tests. Picking up my pencil, I started writing.

The time passed, clock ticking by. The sun glared down from the windows. I wiped some sweat that had accumulated on my neck and forehead. I had finished the chemical equation problems and the ninja A and B ones as well. On the ninja A and B problems, I applied triangle equations and it worked. I wasn't sure about the smoke bomb one though. Bah. I had more questions.

Tick... Tock...

The sound of the unnecessarily loud clock and the scratching of pencils could be heard throughout the room. Over the course of time, teams got called out and were told to leave. I guess they had got caught cheating. Why would people cheat on this test? To me, it was the ACT. I needed a good score to pass to the next level.

I had guessed on the ones I couldn't answer. It sucked that it wasn't multiple choice, but then again, this was the world of the ninja. Nothing was easy, you had to fight for it. I turned my paper over and saw that there was 15 minutes left. The Sound-nin was already done, but the Suna-nin was still working. Since my hat obscured my face to the proctors, I glanced at her paper. She was stuck on the chemical equation questions.

Scanning the room, I noticed that the proctor, Morino Ibiki was staring at me. Maybe it was the hat. I looked away from him and turned my gaze to the chuunin sitting on the chairs by the walls. Some were furiously writing something down, while others made a quick note here and there.

I wonder how my team's doing. I couldn't see them from everyone else in the room, but I bet they were okay. I wonder if Shino's doing okay...

Glancing to the right, I saw that the Sound-nin was just sitting in silence. How tall is she? She's definitely taller than me, because sitting up, her head was slightly higher than mine.

"Time!" Ibiki called. Everyone out their pencils down, some looking mad that they couldn't have more time. "Now. If you don't want to take the tenth question, leave now." To my surprise, a good number of people got up and left. Almost half the room.

"No!" Naruto shouted, standing up. "I'm going to take your stupid question whether I get it or not!" _What a loudmouth._

"You do realize that if you get it wrong, you won't be able to take the Chuunin Exams anymore, right?" Ibiki asked. I, myself, stayed rooted to my chair, as did the Suna-nin and the Sound-nin. If I failed it, then I failed it. No big deal. I didn't really want a ninja lifestyle anyway. I was going this far, because I didn't want it let my team down.

"Yeah! If I get it wrong... Then I'll just have to find a different way to become a Chuunin, you'll see!" Naruto yelled. Ibiki smirked.

"You all pass then." What? He wasn't going to grade it or anything? Almost at once, everyone started whispering.

"Hold on!" Ibiki yelled. "The reason you all passed was through teamwork. That or you're a genius. Truth be told, these questions are at chuunin level and nobody was expected to actually answer them by themselves. You had to cheat secretly to get the answers. This skill will come in handy during missions when you need to get information," he finished.

"Well... That test was unnecessary," I stated. We were now waiting for the second proctor to arrive.

"Yet, you finished it," the Sound-nin replied. Now that I could look at her without considered cheating, I did.

"You finished faster than I did, though."

"I rushed," she dismissed. Suddenly, a window shattered and a large bundle landed on the floor. The bundle moved and Anko popped up, throwing kunai into the cloth, making it stick to the wall. It said, "Prepare yourselves for the Second Round!"

"Oh brother," I said to no one, putting a hand to my forehead. The Sound-nin laughed.


	12. A Brush With Death

**AN: Thank you for the positive reviews! Also, I'm surprised that this story is going along well. Thanks for the follows and favorites. Thanks kani-leek-lover for helping support this story through positive reviews! Also, I'm sorry if the chapters are coming out late. I keep deleting them because I don't think they're good enough. Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 12**

"Let's take Naruto down," Shikamaru said. Team Ten was currently standing at one of the 44 entrances to the Forest of Death. The Second Exam was held in Training Ground 44 or as Anko called it, "The Forest of Death." Anko was our proctor for the second part of the Chuunin Exams.

The whole point of the second exam was to get both scrolls, Heaven and Earth. The teams started out with one scroll and we had to fight others to get the other scroll. We had a total of 5 days to get both scrolls and arrive at the testing center in the middle of The Forest of Death. We had a Heaven scroll and it was sealed in my hat.

"Did you know that on Naruto's team, is Uchiha Sasuke?" I asked, sarcastically. At Sasuke's name, Ino's eyes turned into hearts and she almost started drooling. Choji and Shikamaru rolled their eyes.

"All the more reason to track them down, right, Ino?" Shikamaru replied. Ino nodded and I sighed. I wouldn't win this round. _How smart. To play Ino's weakness against her to get his way._

"Fine," I complied. With a jolt, I realized that this was strangely familiar to the Hunger Games. Fight to win a rank, become known. This is what happened to Katniss Everdeen and it would happen to more than one person. _All the more reason to survive._

 _To win._

A gong sounded and the gates were opened. We rushed forward in a diamond: Ino in front, Shikamaru to the left, Choji to the right, and me in the back. I personally thought that I was in the back because the Ino-Shika-Cho combo was able to be applied if they were side by side. I was probably put in the back by Asuma as backup.

Multiple teams had been sent into a jungle with means to obtain a scroll. A scroll that half of the other teams had. Which meant that half of the teams that entered the Forest of Death wouldn't advance to the next exam. Some of them wouldn't leave the forest at all.

Over the course of 5 days, people would die trying to get to the next level. This is what this world was like and I didn't want to die just yet. Well...

Kakashi was known as the Copy Ninja. Orochimaru, Tsunade and that other guy were known as the Legendary Three. My plan in this world was to be known as the Suicidal Ninja. I honestly didn't care if I achieved this. It was more of a goal that I _hoped_ I would make.

We had traveled for 30 minutes, before we stopped.

"Choji... Really?" Shikamaru asked. Hearing a bag of chips being opened, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"I can't help it. It's my favorite flavor.," he replied, digging in happily. I was on the verge of dubbing Choji as an annoyance in my life. You can't be stupid when you're in a forest named, " _The Forest of Death_."

"Choji, you're wasting time," Ino said, equally as pissed. I shook my head, disappointed.

After a good minute of waiting for Choji to finish his stupid chips, Shikamaru yanked all of us into a nearby bush. I was about to ask him what his deal was, when I felt three new chakra signatures right where we had been standing. I couldn't see anything, as I was laying flat on the ground, to keep my hat from being seen.

A minute passed and they had left. We all let out a breath of relief and got up, looking around. When I looked at the ground to see if they left any footprints, I saw that Choji had dropped some chips on the ground, right next to where the light footprints were.

"We were very lucky they didn't step on them, _Choji_ ," I stated, angrily, pointing at the potato chips littered on the ground. Ino crossed her arms and looked away after seeing what could've happened.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru remarked, glancing at the parts of the sky he could see through the leaves.

After the incident, Choji ditched the bag and we continued on.

It was a tiring journey to find Naruto's team. I didn't like the strategy of hiding from other teams, but I wasn't team leader, so I couldn't change Shikamaru's decision. My legs were aching and tired. Since we traveled through the trees, we didn't get any mud or dirt on us. Throughout the course of 2 days, since we went through Choji's chips quickly, we were forced to eat roots, berries, and nuts that we deemed edible. I had to applaud Choji's will to not complain. We couldn't do anything about it.

When nighttime came, we took turns taking watch. In the morning, we continued our searching.

"Is this... Blood?" I asked. We had been attracted to a battle ground, so we stopped to investigate. Three big blood splotches were splashed on the forest floor, some of it on the trees. Kunai were littered everywhere and strangely enough, there was a light coat of sand everywhere. Why would sand be in the forest?

"Why is there sand here?" Ino questioned. Shikamaru walked behind a tree and picked something up.

"What's that?" Choji asked. Shikamaru held up an Earth scroll.

"What?! Is it a fake?" Shikamaru felt all around it and dug his fingers into the blood splattered scroll, resulting in paper crunching. It was real.

"I'd say that a team from Suna came in and killed this unlucky team. I guess they had enough scrolls, because that's why this one is here," Shikamaru guessed. We accepted the theory, because nobody had a better one.

Dabbing at the blood-covered ground, my fingers came up dusty.

"It isn't fresh," I said. Pushing the same hand against the ground, hard, I saw that my entire hand was now covered lightly in sand. "I don't think this happened today. The blood's dry, even when I push down on it."

"So?" Ino asked, curious as to what I was doing. I showed her my hand.

"This means that the blood has sunk into the ground over a long period of time. I'd say this was done yesterday or maybe the day before that, though I doubt it." Shikamaru nodded, dabbing at the ground himself.

"You're right. Whoever did this is probably long gone, maybe already at the testing center."

"So we don't have to wor-" A yell cut Ino off. Her blue eyes widened.

"That was Sakura," she said quickly and quietly. The three of us looked to Shikamaru for confirmation and he nodded with a serious, yet semi-lazy face.

We wasted no time in getting to Sakura. How did Ino even know it was Sakura? I guess they were lifetime friends or something.

It only took us a couple of minutes to get to her, because we sprinted. Standing on a tree branch, we surveyed the scene quickly, wondering why Sakura had yelled. Sakura only yells for Sasuke, as gross as it may seem, so it was odd for her to be yelling about anything else.

Sasuke and Naruto were laying side by side, eyes closed, behind Sakura. Sasuke was emitting some sort of purple smoke, I don't know what that was about. Sakura, was looking extremely beat up. Her face was dirty and covered in both sweat and dirt and her clothes were extremely crumpled and riddled with tears.

More importantly, her long hair was being grabbed by the Sound-nin I had sat by during the first exam. The Sound-nin's teammates were slowly and leisurely advancing towards her.

"Think you're tough, little kunoichi?" The Sound-non taunted, malice in her voice. Ino clenched her fists and almost jumped down, but was stopped by Shikamaru grabbing her arm.

"She can handle herself, Ino," he whispered quietly, almost to the point where I couldn't hear what he said.

"Kin, stop playing with your food," her teammate said. Looking to the speaker, I recognized him as the one who gave Kabuto a bloody nose before the first exam. The other one was standing and watching, smirking at Sakura getting manhandled by Kin.

A movement from Sakura drew my attention. She had drawn a kunai with a shaky hand, almost unable to even hold it.

"I am not food," Sakura replied with a weak and crackly voice. Kin yanked her hair a little bit more.

"What're you going to do, loser? Stab me?" Kin laughed, her high pitched and scratchy voice irritating me. I tolerated it when I thought we were friends, but now, it was annoying.

Without saying anything, Sakura drew her kunai behind her and sliced the hair that Kin was holding, setting her free.

Not laughing anymore, Kin brought her foot backs and kicked Sakura in the side, knocking her over. It was when Sakura didn't get up, that Shikamaru pointed at the terrible scene. Ino wasted no time dropping down, followed by her team.

Shikamaru threw a kunai at Kin as he landed, causing her to flip back to her shocked team. We landed in front of Sakura.

"What?" Kin asked, shocked at my appearance, "You're with them?"

"Yeah. Didn't you see the Konoha hitai-ate?" Did she not realize we were from the same village?

"I did, bu-"

"Kin! Stop talking to the enemy!" The guy who bloodied Kabuto's nose said. Kin glared at him and probably would've flipped him off, if it hadn't been that she was in a battle.

"Same to you, Kabucha," Shikamaru ordered. "Ino-Shika-Cho combo!" He yelled. My three teammates took their stances in from of Sakura, while I stayed behind, looking for an opening to attack.

"Choji!" Shikamaru ordered. Choji nodded and formed a couple of handseals. His body expanded into his family's signature jutsu and his arms, legs and head disappeared in his enlarged shirt, being replaced by jets of fast air. He hurtled himself at the guy with brown hair, who raised his arms.

Were those holes in his arms?

"Double Wind Push!" He yelled. Gusts of wind, from the holes in his arms, intercepted Choji, who was now just a green ball spinning very fast towards the brown haired guy.

"He's actually able to fight it?" The other guy said, awed at the sight. Choji, realizing that his technique wasn't working, aimed his path toward the sky, launching him up. When he reached the peak of his flight, he fell very, very fast towards the brown haired dude, who couldn't move because of shock.

"Move!" The covered guy yelled, starting to sprint towards his teammate. Shikamaru smirked and formed a handseal.

"Oh no you don't." Shikamaru sent his shadows towards the covered man, stopping him when they reached his shadow. The Nara's family style.

"What?!" He yelled, suddenly unable to move, looking at the shadow that connected Shikamaru's to his.

The brown haired guy dodged Choji at the last second, and my teammate landed in his own crater. He got back up with a dizzy look in his eyes. I guess launching yourself at the ground did that to you.

That left Kin, who left herself wide open to Ino.

"Mind-Transfer Jutsu!" Ino yelled, her hands formed into an oval, and her conscious went hurtling towards an unsuspecting Kin, who had been watching with a neutral, yet shocked expression. Ino's body slumped and Shikamaru caught her.

Kin who was upright, also slumped to her knees, hair falling in her face, over her hitai-ate. Her teammates watched with wide eyes, as Kin slowly lifted her head, irises enlarging. Ino's familiar laugh made its way past Kin's lips, as she threw her head back to get the hair out of Kin's face.

From her knees to her feet, Kin now stood, watching everyone with a satisfied smirk.

"Surrender or your teammate gets a slice to the neck," Ino said in Kin's voice. I don't know; she wasn't that bad, was she? Well... They did attack Team 7, so...

To my surprise, the two members of the team started chuckling. The one with holes in his hand pointed a hand at Kin. Team Ten's eyes widened and I started moving from behind Sakura, to Kin. That was my job, wasn't it? Provide backup?

"You'd hurt a teammate like that?" Shikamaru asked, clearly unhappy.

"Yeah, if it means getting a mission done, then I don't mind killing another teammate," the brown haired guy said. Sprinting towards an unmoving Kin, I arrived with no time to spare, taking my hat off and holding it tilted up, so the wind flow wouldn't knock me off my feet.

He fired a strong gust of air in our direction. I misjudged my strength and was pushed backwards into Kin's standing and unmoving body, but I didn't fall down. Couldn't Ino move? Ruthlessly, he fired another blast of air, pushing my body back even more. A tornado of wind hit the shield, before sailing over the top of it. My arms were yelling at me to lower them, stop using them, let go of the shield, _give up._

 _No_.

"Ino, move!" Shikamaru yelled, still holding their big teammate captive with his shadow jutsu. Shaken from her daze, Kin ran to Choji and Shikamaru, when the wind died down. My arms were now shaking, just trying to hold onto the straps of the shield, not get blown away.

"I don't get it," I said, panting from battling the wind, "you need all your teammates to fight. Why are you trying to kill one of them?"

"In all honesty," the brown hair guy started, "we don't care about this test." What? Glancing at Shikamaru, I saw that his eyes were wide as well. Taking advantage of my shock, the brown haired shinobi fired wind from both his hands.

My eyes went wide as they turned back to see the sudden wind hurtling towards me. I could barely stop wind from one of his arms; I didn't stand a chance against two of them.

The shield straps ripped from the sheer force of the element and the shield was sent hurtling from my arms, embedding itself within a nearby tree. I was rocketed backwards, time slowing down and an odd feeling of tranquility sweeping over me. I would hit a tree and die from a broken neck or spine; that's what usually happened.

Looking at Shikamaru, I watched him watching me with wide eyes, slowly calling my name, holding Ino's body and the enemy-nin with his shadow jutsu, at the same time. _How talented._ Choji was wide eyed as well, reaching forwards and running. _Wait, Choji running?_ I would've laughed if I had time to. Finally, I looked at Kin, knowing it was actually Ino. She was calling my name, too. Even though she wasn't in her own body, she was still prettier than me, not that it mattered.

Now that I was in the air, I also saw Sasuke getting up. He was covered in some black, ancient runes and was still giving off that purple smoke.

 _I wonder if this is what it's like to actually be the center of attention? Everybody calling your name and being worried about your well-being. That was something I had never had before; attention. I was always cast out as the smart one, while my only line to the rest of society was helping others with homework. Mom told me my time would come in college, where smart people like me were worshipped and never left alone._

While I was hurtling through the air, not a care in the world, my chakra, surprisingly had other plans. Molding itself along my bones and joints, my genin-sized chakra braced for impact, while I did not. I was self-aware of this, because your chakra was a part of you that never went away.

 _I thought my chakra hated me? I should look on the bright side. Maybe now I would be known as the Suicidal Ninja._

That was my last thought before I collided with a tree and the world went dark.

.

.

.

.

.

 _Was this what it was like to be dead? Darkness? Just darkness? No Heaven or Hell, just darkness? Was this Limbo? I had only heard of it through movies or rumors, but I now discovered that it was boring._

Looking around, I saw I was floating in nothing. To my disbelief, I had my hat and clothes on, and nothing hurt. I guess breaking your neck was an instant kill. I wonder if I could control where I was, like in my dreams. I closed my eyes.

Concentrating on bring myself to a volleyball court, I opened my eyes to see that it didn't work. Instead, there was a white silhouette of me, without the details.

" **Who do you think you are, trying to kill yourself like that?** " Someone said. I suspected it was the being in front of me.

"Who are you?" I asked. I didn't like this thing's attitude.

" **Your chakra.** "

"Nonsense," I replied, waving my hand, dismissively, "chakra can't take a human shape." It didn't move or show any signs of being offended; it just floated with me.

" **You ever wonder why your chakra systems are messed up? That's me** ," it said.

"Oh." I wasn't surprised by much anymore.

" **I don't have a lot of time, so I'll get right to the point. Quit risking your life when you don't have to. If you die, I die. I know that you're still depressed about being away from your real world. I am, too, because as I said before, I am your chakra; a part of you. I have your memories, your habits, and your fears. I am you** ," it finished. Whatever. I was probably getting brainwashed or something.

"Yeah, yeah... Okay," I replied, looking at my nails and then back at my 'chakra,' "but what's in it for me?"

" **What**?"

"You've been really jacked up lately. I haven't been able to use my chakra because it's messed up. Can you knock it off?" I asked.

" **You inhabited someone else's body and you have never felt chakra before until then. I cannot help how I am. The only reason I helped you, was because I, myself, didn't want to die. I had to force myself to help you**."

Before I could ask anymore questions, the silhouette faded away. The blackness was replaced by grey and a large monster appeared in front of me. It had a skull for a head and was made of bones. Around its body, were rags of what looked to once be magnificent and royal, red robes. In its mouth was a scythe.

Was I finally meeting Death?

 **Outsider**.

Sighing, I looked the skull in the eyes, which required me to look up. Time to meet my fate.

Yes?

 **The reason I am not yet taking your life, is because you are not of this world. You do not deserve death, for I will not give it to you.**

How do I not deserve it? I made the choice of protecting my teammate. Shouldn't it be my choice on whether or not I want to die?

 **No and it never will be. As the Shinigami of Death, I am in charge of all the souls that enter my belly. You may never enter, Outsider.**

Never?

 **Never.**


	13. Success

**AN: Happy Holidays and thanks for the favorites, follows, and reviews! You all are awesome! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 13**

I was drowning in an ocean of darkness. Looking above me, I saw the sky; the itty bitty sky, a pinprick of light blue. It was tiny, yet my lungs yelled at me to try to reach the pocket of air that my eyes told me was too far away.

"Move," I ordered my legs, and they moved. My arms reached up with cupped hands, and flew to my sides with familiarity. It had been so long since I had last swum, yet I needed my rusty skills to not be rusty.

With every stroke, every kick towards the surface, my body got heavier and heavier. My lungs wanted to inhale oxygen, telling me they were too full.

I slloowwllyyyy let out a bubble of carbon dioxide. My chest started compressing in on itself. Bad idea. But wait!

The pinprick of light blue was now bigger; the size of a volleyball.

Volleyball. The word sent a surge of energy through my tiring limbs, willing them to go on, but that was something my limbs didn't want to do.

My eyes stung with saltwater. My ears felt like they were bleeding; the ocean was too big, too deep. My nose was nonexistent; long ago, I had ordered it not to do what it did best: inhale. My mouth was always telling me that it tasted saltwater; nonstop reporting. My hands, my feet, everything was crinkly. My hat was not on my head, my shoes were not on my feet, yet I still had the clothes on my back.

My hands and feet felt like they were at their limit, but I could do it. Dragging myself through the water, I kept my eyes on the prize; the sky. The sky never looked so beautiful.

Fumes. I was running on fumes. Running out of air, my body had started using carbon dioxide to power my limbs; something that should never happen. But the sky! It was so big, so bluish white!

My lungs refused to hold anymore carbon dioxide. Exhaling everything, I tried to keep it a steady pace, but to no avail. I made one last effort to move my screaming limbs, screaming senses, my faltering will to live, my crumbling hope to see my family.

My mind was no longer thinking any thoughts. I had lost feeling in my arms, legs, ears, everything. Now, I was just trying to drag a body through the water. My body. The sky was so close.

The sky was so beautiful.

I was a foot away.

I gave one last desperate kick, but my legs would not move, my arms would not obey. This is it. I would die knowing I had gotten so close to touching freedom.

I started sinking to the bottom; no air in my lungs to keep me away from the watery death. My hands were outstretched to the sky that filled my vision to the brim. I had been so close.

 _The game was over. I hadn't even touched the volleyball, other than stopping a short serve. Nobody had set me, because I didn't know how to hit the ball correctly. The only reason I was in the game at all, was because I could block like there was no tomorrow. This game, I had blocked 5 hits from the opposing team, each time my team cheered for me, giving me high fives as I was substituted out. I was just a wall to my coach. Just a shield against the enemy team._

 _Just a shield._

Something grabbed my hand. Not having the energy to see what it was, I let myself get dragged to the beautiful sky.

Inhaling air as a starving man would food, I looked at my savior and saw it was the white silhouette of my chakra. I didn't say anything, couldn't say anything, so I just looked at it. I coughed from inhaling too much air. Exhaling the excess air carefully, smoothly, the white silhouette touched my forehead and I was cast into a world of black.

"-cha!" Someone yelled, voice cracking. Who's voice had cracked? It sounded funny. In the background, I heard the rustling of leaves, the buzzing of insects. A bird cawed somewhere. Someone was leaning over me, due to their chakra being right next to me. I wasn't standing, so I was lying down; something bumpy, too.

"I'm so sorry." Okay, playtimes over, I needed to see what was going on.

Wait. Was that Shikamaru's voice? I'll wait this out, see what he says. See if he confesses anything like a crush, then I'll act like I didn't even hear him. Then, I'll blackmail him later on in life.

I'm so smart.

.

.

.

.

.

He didn't say anything else? Was he that smart to actually consider that I was al- Wait, I heard a sob from him. He thought I was dead. Dangit; no juicy secrets.

"Are you going to confess your love to me, yet?" I asked, aloud, opening my eyes to be greeted with the sight of a pathetic Shikamaru. He had tears in his eyes and his face had been all crunched up, like an old person. Behind him, Ino and Choji were silently crying, too. Ino was back in her usual body.

"K-Kabucha?!" He yelled, obviously alarmed. Ino and Choji had wide eyes, too.

"Kabucha!" They all yelled at once, realizing I was actually alive.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alive. Where's my hat?" I asked, uninterested in being a whiny baby over something petty, like dying.

Whoa. I scared myself there, saying that dying was a petty task. Choji silently handed me my large, metal disk of a hat.

It was quiet. Too quiet.

"Somebody say something," I demanded, pointing at my team. Behind them, Team 7 and another team stood. One of them looked oddly like Guy; actually, he looked exactly like Guy, minus some of the bigger muscles.

"Kabucha," Ino said, voice cracking and a wave of tears rolling down her face, "Kabucha, we thought you were d-dead!" Wow, way to jump to conclusions, Ino. I didn't say that though; I couldn't be a bitch to someone who witnessed their teammate getting killed.

"Obviously not," I replied, still a little sarcastic. Rolling off what I now saw to be a tree, I shoved Shikamaru away.

"What're you d-doing?" He asked, confused and voice still cracking. Funny. I always found voice cracks to be hilarious.

"If you're not gonna help me get up, can you move?" I asked with a neutral tone. They looked flabbergasted that I had asked such a question. What was wrong with asking someone to get out of the way?

"Kabucha," Choji started, "You broke your neck. I saw it happen. We saw it happen. We heard it." They nodded in agreement. My neck had snapped? I guess it had been a painless death after all. Except for one part. The swim. The painful, excruciatingly hard and difficult swim.

I still hadn't gotten up, but I was looking at the sky now.

 _So beautiful._

Hoisting myself up to my feet, I put my hat back on and watched my teammates pale expressions as if they had just seen a miracle happen.

I guess they had just seen a miracle.

"C'mon. We have 3 days to get back to the center. Le-"

"Kabucha!" Naruto yelled, tears rolling down his face, "You're alive!" Oh. I guess my team had blocked everyone's view. Sasuke and a guy from Guy-lookalike's team were the only ones not crying. Why was Sakura crying?

"O-oh my god," Sakura said, covering her mouth. Oh yeah... Hadn't we defended her from the Sound-nin? Also, what happened to Sasuke's skin? Didn't it have runes on it or something like that? Had I been hallucinating the marks on his skin?

Naruto ran at me and encased me in a bone-crushing hug.

"Kabucha! Kabucha, they said you were dead!" He cried, pain in his voice, shiny tears in his eyes, but I was far away.

Was this what it was like to be cared for? To not have to fight to get noticed, to be accepted, to be worried about, for people to care for you? Why did this many people care for me?

"Naruto, I'm okay," I said calmly, tears rolling down my cheeks. I was finally accepted into somewhere. Mom said it would get better in college, bu-

"Huh? Kabucha, why're you crying?" Naruto asked, loosening the hug and looking at me with concern. I wanted my mother, Mom, Teresa Wells. I wanted to show her I had finally gotten accepted into a group. But I couldn't. It felt like something had gotten caught in my throat, but I couldn't get it out. It kept pounding; was that my heart?

"I'm glad, Naruto. I'm glad I'm alive," I choked up, crying. We hugged the tears out, like the manly orphans we were.

"Alright, let's get to the tower!" I yelled, but was quickly stopped by Ino hugging the living daylights out of me.

"Kabucha, t-thank you for helping me. I know I'm not mature yet, but I do know... I know that I have a... a debt to you that I can't... I can't pay back," she said, quietly. I hugged her back, wanting the hugging to be over and done with.

"Ino, it's coo-"

"No, it's not!" She exclaimed. "It's not cool! You protected me with you life, Kabucha! Don't just brush... don't brush something like that off." She calmed down and looked at me with a teary face. I smiled at her, gently.

"Well, I am, Ino. I'm brushing it off. Get over it," I replied, smirking now. She chuckled and we finished hugging. Thankfully, nobody else wanted to hug it out and we made it to the tower safely. Apparently, the team that I didn't know yet was known as Team 8, with Rock Lee, Tenten, and Hyuuga Neji. Lee told me that he modeled his look after Guy's, because he was grateful for the teacher that had helped him through difficult times.

As we walked to the center, I thought back to what Death had said.

 **I choose if you die or not. You will never die, Outsider, for I will not give you the gift of death.**

Did that mean I couldn't die? Was I now immortal? If I was, I had a looooong list of things that I wanted to do. Was the immortality like Twilight, where I was a vampire and had to stay out of the sun because of sparkly skin? Was I a 12-year old forever? I hope not.

And what did Death have against outsiders? I get that I'm not from this world, but not letting me die? Are you serious?

"How did you survive a broken neck," Tenten asked, suddenly. Looking behind me, at the speaker, her face reddened and she looked away.

"Sorry, I should've thought about what I was going to say..." She apologized. I didn't say anything to her though. Looking at her, I just smiled; she smiled back. Weird. Some people need a filter. She honestly thought I was just going to tell her?

When we got to the testing center, I was ready to collapse from exhaustion. The center was 4x's the size of the Academy and it was covered in neutral tones. Along with that, I saw there were multiple doors leading to different places, but I didn't care at the moment.

I just wanted food.

After watching Naruto's team unseal their scrolls together, we decided to give it a try.

"Hey, guys!" Asuma said cheerfully, appearing in some smoke with a 'pop,' but then noticed our dirty, tired, tear covered faces. "What happened?" He asked.

"Can we go to a room?" Choji asked, grumpily. Wow, Choji was never grumpy. I didn't blame him though. I was grumpy too.

Asuma gave us the key to room 384 and told us where everything was. Before he left, he told us to meet in the arena in 3 days. I noticed he didn't push us to tell him what had happened. Good, I'm pretty sure we were going to starve if he had.

When he disappeared like Sonic, we all looked at each other, letting out a sigh of relief. As we walked to room 384, I looked up at the underside of my hat. It was covered to the brim with tree bark trapped in dried out mud. My clothes were dirty, too, and my shoes were ripped in some places. Everything was achy, but my back was killing me.

When we opened the door to our room for the next couple of days, we saw that there were two queen sized beds with white sheets, a lone window in the far wall, tiled floors, and a single bathroom with the bare necessities: a toilet, a shower, and a sink.

"Now what?" Ino asked, quietly, tired from the Second Exam. We walked around the room for a bit, getting a feel for it, before we agreed that we were starving.

"I'm sick of roots. Do you think the kitchen's open?" Choji said, finally speaking out about the diet we had all had to follow for the past 2 days.

"Do you guys want to take showers, first?" I replied, looking at all the dirt that we were caked with. It was on our arms and legs, even our faces.

In the end, we decided we were more hungry than we were worried about our personal hygiene, so we washed our hands and set out to the cafeteria. Walking down the halls, we ran into a team from Suna that looked like they were also going to the cafeteria. I recognized the Suna-nin that had sat beside me in the first exam. With her, was Gaara... I think. I remembered him from when Kabuto had talked about him. The other one, a boy, was covered in sharp and precise, purple face paint and had on a black hoodie.

We didn't talk to them, no talking to the enemy and all that. Speaking of that... What happened to Kin? What happened while I had been out of it? I'd ask when we sat down in the cafeteria.

They, however, were looking curiously at our dirty clothes and unpampered appearances. We were slightly ahead of them when we entered the cafeteria.

The aroma of cooked food hit us. It didn't smell delicious, it was just... cooked. There was a buffet set up in one corner of it and we made our way over. Getting a plate, I scraped a chicken leg, mashed potatoes with gravy and a corn husk on it, wanting to taste something familiar.

We sat down at a random table, making sure to keep space from the Suna-nin. They started talking, while we ate in silence.

After a long while of eating, we finished and sat there, looking at our plates.

Maybe there was a deal I could work out with Death? Was anybody else immortal? If so... How did they cope? Could Death's mind be changed? Was the way to get back to my parents to die? I was screwed if it was.

"How did you survive a broken neck?" Shikamaru asked. Looking up from my empty plate, I saw that my team was staring at me with a dull look in their eyes. Do I tell them? If I did, then I would eventually have to tell them I was from another world, but the Hokage told me not to tell anyone.

"What makes you think I know the answer?" I replied, staring back. He slumped down.

"Troublesome. Let's forget it ever happened, okay?" He said.

"Agreed," we all said. But I knew no one would forget it. They would always know, but would never tell. Maybe this was considered a big secret to them, but to me, it was tiny compared to being from another world.

"You guys look like hell." Looking at the speaker, I saw it was Kiba, with Shino and Hinata following him. They sat at our table without asking, even Hinata and Shino, but maybe they were just following what Kiba did. They had clean clothes on and looked like they had just showered, unlike us, who voted to eat first.

"Tell me about it," Shikamaru answered, a slight grin forming in the corner of his mouth. We followed his example and plastered smiles on our faces.

"So, you guys just got in, huh? We got in yesterday," Kiba said, smirking as if we cared if he got here first.

"Good for you," I replied when nobody said anything. I thought back to my vision as I had been swimming for my life. Just a shield. I was just there for defense, I was only put in the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, because I was the shield of the team, the one who was supposed to take the hits, save the others, forget myself.

 _I was a shield in my past life, and I was a shield in this life._

The teams talked for a bit, before dispersing to our respective rooms. I didn't attempt to talk to Shino and he didn't try to talk to me.

In room 384, we took turns showering. Asuma had given us all a spare set of clothes to wear while we washed ours. While I waited for my team to finish showering, so I could have a turn, I washed my hat off with a bucket of water, outside the room as to not cause a mess.

While I was scrubbing the mud off with a small towel, I realized that I had forgotten to ask them what had happened while I was unconscious.

"Hey, what happened while I was out?" I asked, walking back in the room with a shiny, metal shield on my head and a bucket of dirty water in my hand. Choji and Shikamaru were sitting on one bed, while Ino was laying down on the other.

"The Sound team retreated and it turns out that Sasuke got bit by some snake person." I shook my head, blinking at Shikamaru.

"Did you just say, 'snake person?'" I replied. I needed a shower, because ew. My clothes were now dirtier than before from washing my hat. He nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't believe it either."

"He was so manly!" Ino added, hearts in her eyes. I waved her off and stepped into the bathroom with my spare set of clothes, tossing my shield to Choji, who caught it with ease.

The floor of the shower was filled with mud. I turned on the water, and it slowly retreated down the drain. I took my clothes off and stepped in, grateful for the hot water. Tons of mud got washed off, with me staring at it with disgusted curiosity. As I watched the last of it disappear down the drain, I shampooed my hair with a white bottle that someone had written 'shampoo' on. Because my hair was on top of my head with soap, the stream of hot water hit my back, making me wince.

How big was the bruise? Turning, I discovered it hurt my back everywhere. Great. Just great. I wouldn't tell anyone about it though, I mean, it's just a stupid bruise. Not worth complaining about.

Stepping out of the showers and turning it off, I grabbed a clean towel from on top of the toilet and wrapped myself up. Clearing the fogged mirror, I turned around, catching a glimpse of the bruise that was hurt by a stream of water.

It was big and it was ugly. Covering my entire back, the bruise was a dark black, no spots of yellow, blue, or purple. I guess it had happened when my back hit the tree and I was knocked out. I'm glad I wasn't awake to feel it. Ouch. It looked like Death itself. Ha!

I didn't push its pain limit, because I didn't care. Shrugging on the spare clothes, I looked at myself in the mirror. My brown hair was a little past my shoulders, because I had brushed it. My eyes were still a boring brown and my teeth were straight. That's another thing. In my old world, I had braces, but had never gotten them off. Now, I had a pretty smile, something I had never noticed before. I had never had time. Wait...

Were those freckles?

 _Ew_.


	14. Weapon's Weakness

**AN: Thanks for all the awesome reviews, kani-leek-lover and Art is An Eternal Bang! Thanks for the favorites and follows! It means a lot! Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 14**

The days passed quickly. Team Ten had exchanged long stories and secrets to pass the time. I, of course, made sure to keep my past hidden, but at the same time, give them something to listen to. Along with sharing stories, we hung out with the other teams from Konoha.

Now our time was up. It was time for the Third Exam.

"Genin," someone started with a raspy and croaky voice. "We did not expect so many of you to pass the Second Exam. Before the Final Exam, we will hold Preliminary rounds, right now, to shorten the number of genin... Yes?" I looked around to why the sick dude had stopped talking and saw someones hand up. We were in the arena, as instructed. The floor was hard dirt, while there was metal railing high on the sides, where people could watch the fights.

"I forfeit." Was that Kabuto's voice? While everyone was confused about the sudden Preliminaries, I was confused as to why Kabuto would give up. He was tall, like me, so he had a slight advantage in taijutsu. I didn't doubt that he also had some tricks up his sleeve.

Why would he give up?

"Alright," the sick guy replied. Behind him, were the jounin instructors of all the teams. "Here are the match ups." Above him, on a screen built into the wall, names appeared next to each other. There was 21 names up there, not including Kabuto's.

 _Akado Yoroi vs. Uchiha Sasuke_

 _Abumi Zaku vs. Aburame Shino_

 _Tsurugi Misumi vs. Kankuro of Sand_

 _Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino_

 _Ono Kabucha vs. Tenten of Konoha_

 _Nara Shikamaru vs. Tsuchi Kin_

 _Inuzuka Kiba vs. Uzumaki Naruto_

 _Hyuuga Neji Hinata_

 _Rock Lee vs. Gaara of Sand_

 _Kinuta Dosu vs. Akimichi Choji_

 _Temari of Sand- Exempted from Preliminaries_

What?! Why couldn't I get exempted? Ugh. I had to actually fight, though I guess I didn't have anything to worry about. If Death said I couldn't die, then whatever, no biggie. Although, I would like to keep that a secret. I hadn't even told the Hokage or Inoichi, and I would avoid doing so, until it wasn't possible to avoid it.

The ninja in the arena moved to the sides, where we could watch from the top. The only ones in the arena were Sasuke and a masked-nin, plus, a sickly looking dude.

"The match is over when one of you cannot get up, or I step in, understand? When I step in, the fighting stops." The two nodded and the sick dude signaled it to start.

I paid some attention to the fight, though not much. Looking at the various shinobi that dotted the top of the arena, I spotted my opponent, Tenten. I had never actually seen her fight, but I could see several scrolls dotting her side, and a big one on her back. Nuke-nin, maybe? Without looking at Ino, I asked her about Tenten's strengths.

"Her? Oh, yeah, you're fighting her, aren't you? Well... I think she throws kunai and stuff. Besides the forest, I've never really seen her fight. I don't know if that's useful, but it's something, right?" Ino responded, glancing at me. I flashed her a quick smile, assuring her that it was enough.

Alright, so little miss Chinese-Buns used weapons? If that was her strength, than there's no doubt that she won't miss. I didn't have the reflexes to counter senbon and kunai with my own knives yet, so I needed to keep moving, never go to the same place twice. Maybe I should start out with a clone? Or maybe...

No. I would use a magnetic volleyball until the last second, catch her off guard. Temou had told me the range of the 1-7 magnetism. 1, being a yard, and 7, being half a mile. Now, half a mile didn't sound very far, but when it came down to a battle, it was a big help. The magnetic volleyballs were half south-oriented magnets, and half north-oriented magnets, to make sure that all weapons would be magnetized to them. It had taken a week for Temou to neutralize all the metal on me, including my large hat, to make sure none of my stuff would be attracted to the magnets.

I looked at the battle going on, against Sasuke and that other guy. Sasuke had pulled a fast one, and followed the guy through the air, shadow to shadow. Did he really have that much speed? I'm confu-

Confusion.

I should use confusion against Tenten. Using a transformation jutsu, I could change into someone in Star Wars or Indiana Jones. Why haven't I thought of this before? It'd be so cool to pose as Cad Bane or Anakin Skywalker, even Mace Windu. I was a sucker for Star Wars. With the transformations, could I run out of chakra? Probably not, because Death said that I couldn't die, so that included chakra exhaustion. It was similar to starving to death, Iruka had said.

The masked-nin had used a chakra sucking technique earlier in the match. A technique I wanted to learn. If I couldn't get it from him, I would look through the library of Konoha or maybe exchange techniques with him. To my surprise, the match finished.

It was all over. Sasuke had ended the fight by beating him, but... Was something wrong? When the sick guy announced Sasuke as the winner, Kakashi appeared out of nowhere, and the genin and sensei were gone. What just happened? I saw that Sasuke had clearly been in pain, but it wasn't from his opponent. Oh well...

Shino's match was next. He was up against a guy that talked too much.

Would Tenten talk too much? Looking at the other girl, I decided she wouldn't, she looked too serious to gloat about her skills. Making a clone definitely wouldn't fool her. She looked like she knew what she was doing, and Ino told me that her team was a year older than us, so she was definitely wiser, in terms of being a ninja. Normally, when a 19-year old and a 13-year old fought, it would be clear on who would win, but I was at a disadvantage. I wasn't in my old body; I wasn't 6'1 anymore.

Somehow, this brought up another problem. What would happen if I almost died during this fight? It was clear I was going to get stabbed a couple of times, as much as I didn't like it, but I couldn't do anything about it. This body was simply too slow. Would the jounin in the stands see me recover? Would my wounds heal? If so, how quickly? And how would I hide that?

"I hope all of you are making a game plan," Asuma said, standing besides us. We nodded, though nobody looked at him. It felt awkward, standing next to Asuma. We still hadn't told him what had happened in the forest. Talking to someone you were keeping a secret from was usually awkward.

The guy that was facing off against Shino, was the same guy who launched me into the tree. In a way, I should thank him for giving me immortality, but I still hated him for giving me the wicked bruise on my back.

"Now you're finished," he said, throwing his hands in Shino's direction. Shino didn't move, he spoke.

"I believe you are the one who is finished. While you were talking, my bugs crawled into the inside of your hands," he stated, watching the guy squirm with every word. The guy stopped squirming and tried to push air out of his hands, but the air wouldn't flow.

I had to give Shino credit for being smart, even though I would never have told my opponent what I did; that's giving away too much information. The guy's arms were blown clean off, much to my satisfaction. He had to be taken to the ER or the equivalent of it because of the heavy blood flow. Shino was deemed the winner of the round and he calmly returned to the stands, standing by his team. That's what I liked about Shino, he didn't boast or anything. He accepted his win and moved on.

The next fight was between two dudes: one, with a stretching ability, and the other, with... um... puppets? Anyway, the guy with puppets one, by tricking the stretchy dude into attacking a puppet; he actually wrapped himself around the puppet like Mr. Fantastic or something. Needless to say, the dude with puppets filled him with holes, making the stretchy dude look like a popped party balloon.

Next, was Ino and Sakura, the two arch enemies. The fight wasn't as cool as I thought it would be; they just did taijutsu the whole time. At the end, Ino finally put in a plan and cut her locks, sending them into a path to an oblivious Sakura. She got trapped within Ino's mind transfer, but through some weird way, Sakura managed to escape and they punched each other at the same time, knocking each other out, much to my amusement. Ino had actually talked too much, revealing her plan at the last possible second, to my disappointment. Sakura had never been good from the start, always whining about Sasuke this, and Sasuke that. They were both equally bad.

"Will the next opponents step into the arena, please?" The sick guy asked, voice rating on my nerves. If I could, I would kill him... but I couldn't, because that would make me a missing-nin. I casually jumped down from the stands, landing in the middle of the arena, where I was join by Miss Chinese Buns. When the sick dude said "begin," Tenten immediately threw a barrage of kunai to me. Ducking into my shield, I could feel the impact they made, hear the 'clangs!' as some were embedded into the large, metal shield and others fell to the ground, useless.

She kept the attack up; the kunai never lightening, never stopping. I thought she had an unlimited amount of kunai, until it stopped. Peeking up from behind the shield, I saw she was drawing out more kunai, but this time, they had exploding tags attached to them. Oh, how I _hated_ those.

 _"Don't stop, Shrimp!" Anko yelled over the explosions. We were in our regular training ground, but instead of on the boulders, we were in the woods._

 _I jumped from branch to branch, taking the occasional left or right, never landing in the same place. Sweat rolled off my forehead from under my hat. My clothes were sticky and felt restricting, even though they were supposed to allow free movement. Seeing a kunai with a familiar tag embed itself into the branch I was standing on, I willed my legs to jump again, reminding myself not to take another break._

 _Landing on another branch, I felt the heat from the explosion behind me, warming the back of my already sweaty neck. Gritting my teeth, I kept moving. Anko had proposed that I was too slow, and insisted that we do speed training. This "training," was actually a dodging exercise; avoid getting blown to bits by exploding tags._

 _"How... much... more?" I managed to stutter out, breathing heavily. We had been at this for at least two hours, and the sun felt like it couldn't get any hotter._

 _"Clearly not enough."_

"How's your neck doing?" Tenten asked, smiling, breaking me from the flashback, "You can always forfeit if it hurts." My eyes narrowed, looking at the lone figure with kunai in every nook of her hand. I had wanted that to be a secret. _What a blabbermouth._

"You talk too much," I replied, sending my own kunai at her, with the hand that wasn't holding the shield. She deflected them by a kunai in her left hand, while she threw the explosive kunai with her right. So she was ambidextrous? Interesting. I guess when you work with weapons, you had to use both hands to work.

Dodging the explosives, I ran to the other side of Tenten, now standing to her left, instead of in front of her. The explosives didn't go off, though. She was probably going to wait until I went back over there and then set them off.

"Why don't you talk?" She asked, pausing in attacking me. Seriously, who paused in a fight? That's stupid. I lowered the shield slightly, from where I had been holding it in front of me. Who knew? Maybe she would give away a weakness of we talked.

"No reason to." She unhooked a scroll from her belt and laid it on the ground. Not knowing what was in it, I raised the shield again, crouching down, knees bent.

"So you're the silent type, huh? The type that thinks they're all that," she said, frowning at my lack of words.

"No." Way to jump to conclusions.

"Then why don't you attack me, huh?" She shot back with a grin I didn't like. Wasn't she Guy's student? If so, then she was probably trained well in taijutsu. I wonder which one of us was better?

Realizing that I would confirm her accusations if I remained silent, I tried to think of a cool comeback.

"The best offense is a good defense." Without anything else said, I unsealed a magnetic volleyball, and pressed '6,' and quickly tossed it to the side, where it hit the wall and landed on the lumpy, dirt covered ground. It was about 15 lbs(6.804 kg), so it wasn't that hard to throw; especially if you had heavy weights on your arms and legs. I still hadn't taken the weights off; it didn't seem necessary.

"Wise words, but what was-" She was cut off when her hitai-ate was ripped from her forehead and went flying to the volleyball, sticking to it with a loud 'clang!' The weapons on the ground flew to the volleyball as well, sticking to it like glue. Tenten's weapon pouch was thrown open, kunai, shuriken, and senbon all flying towards it. The weapons that were sticking to it were overlapping each other, hiding the shape of the volleyball.

Later, I had to thank Temou for neutralizing my metal things.

"What the hell was that?" She demanded, about to open the scroll that was on the ground. I resisted the urge to smirk; I had to be a good sport. I didn't want bad karma from not being humble, but it felt good to finally be in control of a fight. I was the star, not back-up.

"Take a wild guess." She huffed and got out another scroll, laying it on the ground next to the other one.

"Alright, Tenten!" Lee yelled, cheering his teammate on from the stands.

"Go, Kabucha!" Ino yelled as well, finally waking back up. Well... I couldn't let my team down.

"Surrender or I'll be for-"

"Do it!" I dared, sick and tired of all the talking. What I would give to have a gun... A gun could end a fight quickly, no hassles.

Tenten unrolled the scrolls, revealing some print on them.

"Ninja Art: Rising Twin Dragons!" She yelled. Just as the name suggested, two large, smoke dragons rose up, along with the scrolls. Tenten jumped up and started grabbing and throwing kunai and senbon from what looked like, thin-air. Squinting my eyes, I saw that she was actually getting the weapons from the scrolls.

I didn't even have to dodge. The powerful magnet next to the wall attracted the weapons that were thrown at me. Instead of a regular volleyball, now it looked like some sort of weapon monster, with all the weapons that were sticking to it, overlapping each other.

Tenten, realizing that the magnet was disarming her attacks, grabbed the two scrolls in the air, and put them back on her belt thingies. For some reason, she reached into her empty weapons pouch.

"You didn't take all my weapons," she said, right before she threw 5 smoke bombs down. The entire arena was now engulfed in a thick fog, that I suspected wouldn't lift right away.

Quickly moving away from where Tenten had last seen me, I made a clone of me, switched and transformed into my hat on the clone, to give it a shadow. I knew my clone would say what I would say, if it were me.

"Where did you get such a powerful weapon?" Tenten said in the fog. My clone turned to the sound of the voice, sending three kunai towards it. I heard the 'clangs!' as they hit the metal wall across from us. The clone quietly changed positions, making sure to not make a sound.

Tenten came out of nowhere. One second I didn't know where she was, and the next second, my clone had disappeared into a puff of smoke. I(the hat) clanged to the floor and Tenten picked me up, observing it quickly. Getting rid of the transformation, I kicked her in the face, sending her stumbling back. We could see each other now, as the smoke had cleared up.

"Clev-" She started, but I didn't give her any time to respond. I threw my shield at her face as I was running to her, and as expected, she caught it. While her view was blocked for a second, I sweeped her feet out from under her, sending her tumbling to the ground, shield skidding out of her hand. I threw a punch to her face, but she rolled to one side quickly, and scampered up on her feet.

"Come on, Tenten!" Lee yelled again.

"You can do it, Kabucha!" Ino responded with a yell. I would win because of Ino and my back was giving me hell.

Tenten kicked at my head with her right foot, but I ducked and hooked my right foot on her left ankle. Jerking her foot out from under her, Tenten landed on her back again. Not giving her any time to recover, I held a kunai to her neck.

"I surrender," she said with a defeated voice.

"Kabucha is the winner of this round," the sick guy announced. I helped her up and we walked over to the magnet. On our route, I grabbed my metal shield and put it on my head. It hadn't been damaged, other than a few kunai that I had had to pull out.

Yanking some weapons away from the magnet, I gave them to Tenten, telling her to hold onto them tightly. I could now see where the 7 seals were. Pressing the '1,' all the weapons clattered to the ground. I revealed the magnet, and Tenten revealed her weapons, while putting on her hitai-ate again.

Before we left the arena, I turned to Tenten.

"Good fight." She gave me a small smile.

"Thanks. You too." The announcer shooed us to the stands, where we stood with our respective teams.

"Congrats!" Ino said, giving me a hug.

"Thanks," I replied, smiling. _I had won a fight, not as back-up, but as me._

"Good job," Shikamaru and Choji told me. I said thanks again. Shikamaru went into the arena for his match against Kin.

"So," Asuma said from besides me, "what happened to your neck?"

"Nothing. I popped it in the forest," I lied, glancing at Ino and Choji. They were looking at me from the corner of their eyes, trying not to be obvious about being worried. Ino was biting her lip. Besides Choji, Sakura and Naruto were looking at us. Please don't give me away...

"Oh well. I was just wondering why Tenten asked if your neck hurt," he stated, patting my back. Seeing me wince, he stopped.

"Kabucha, go to the hospital," he ordered, cigarette dangling from his mouth.

"Yes, Sensei."


	15. Unlucky

**AN: Thanks Xochiketzali and kani-leek-lover for the amazing reviews. Thank you so much for all the favorites and follows! Originally, I didn't think this story would be that good, but now I've got faith! There is some Spanish in this chapter, so I'm sorry if anything is wrong. Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 15**

 _Darkness surrounded my vision yet again. I wasn't standing on anything; I was floating in water. Looking up, I confirmed my suspicions when I saw the tiny pinprick of light. I was back from where I had been after I talked to Death. Remembering the difficult swim back to the surface, I looked down instead. What was down there? This was probably a dream, so nothing could technically hurt me. There wasn't any harm in swimming down._

 _"Don't," my chakra warned me. The glowing white silhouette had appeared next to me when I started to turn to the bottom._

 _"Don't tell me what to do," I thought, ignoring its warning. I couldn't really say anything, seeing as how I was in water. It stayed quiet and floated next to me, watching me swim down. I started kicking my legs and moving my arms at a leisurely pace, not really in any hurry to get to the bottom of the darkness._

 _"So... what's down here?" I thought, hoping my 'chakra' would answer._

 _"Everything," its voice echoed in my head. I waited for the echo of the soft voice to die down before replying._

 _"Why'd you warn me not to swim down?"_

 _"You'll figure it out." I ignored the white figure floating down next to me. One thing that I noticed was that I wasn't running out of air like last time and my limbs weren't yelling at me._

Opening my eyes, I was greeted with the view of the orphanage's ceiling. The bleak and dull stone was littered with fungus and a couple of roaches wandering the ceiling. A light sweat had accumulated on my face. Feeling around in the darkness, I found that my hat was still next to me. Soft snoozes of the other orphans rang out in a randomized pattern. Getting up from my futon, (it wasn't actually a yoga mat) I tiptoed to the bathroom in my shoes, careful to tread lightly, seeing as our caretaker didn't like us getting up in the middle of the night.

Closing the door to the girls' bathroom, I turned on the lights. The bathrooms were actually cleaner than the ceiling. The stalls were decent and didn't have any writing on them. Our caretaker forced us to do a cleanup of the whole orphanage every other week, so nothing was in shambles or dirty. Of course, there were the windows with bars over them, but we didn't talk about that.

Going to the restroom, I washed my hands and wiped the sweat off my forehead with water. Drying it with a paper towel, I looked at myself again.

The medic station hadn't done a shabby job healing me. They had healed my back and the scars on my side and leg. After I got healed, I had made it back in time to see the final matches, but I only remembered one.

 _Gaara of Sand vs. Uchiha Sasuke_

 _Winner vs. Ono Kabucha_

I didn't have a problem with fighting last. The person fighting me would be tired and give me the advantage. We had been given a month off to train and recuperate, to prepare for the final matches. My team wasn't training together though. I was training with Anko and Shikamaru was with Asuma. They were both good teachers, but they specialized in different things.

Looking at my dull brown eyes in the mirror, I wondered if I would ever get to go back to my old life. Who was the president? Did Donald Trump win the elections? If so, had he been re-elected? Ugh. I could be in college right now, but I'm stuck trying to become a Chuunin.

In the morning, I woke up, ate breakfast, went to the training grounds to meet up with Anko. Konoha was filled with more people than usual because of the visitors for the Chuunin Exams. I avoided looking the visitors in the eye if I passed them; I didn't want to paint a target on myself.

"So this guy you're facing..." Anko started, cleaning her nails with a kunai.

"Gaara of Suna or the Uchiha." She put the kunai up and push off the boulder she had been leaning on, smiling.

"I don't know much about Gaara, but I can assure you that Kakashi will be working with the Uchiha brat to get his Sharingan unlocked, if he hasn't already."

"What's a Sharingan?"

"It's a set of eyes possessed only by the Uchiha clan. It can copy any Jutsu." Copy any Jutsu? Good luck, Uchiha. I only use the basic three.

"It can also tell the user of the eye what your next move will be," she added, seeing my confident face. I frowned. That was problematic.

"Oh yeah, and if you look directly in his eyes while he's using the Sharingan, he can put you in a genjutsu."

"What?!" I exclaimed, losing my calm façade. "How am I supposed to defend against that?" She rolled her eyes and knocked on her head.

"Use your brain, Shrimp. If he can't see you, the Sharingan is useless. Think of a way around it. Also, that Gaara guy uses sand from his gourd." This threw a kink in my plans.

"What? I missed his fight." Anko sighed, knowing she was going to have to explain it to me.

"Gaara can manipulate his sand. It blocks everything and he even crushed Rock Lee's limbs with it." My blood ran cold, even though it was a hot day. How do I stop something like sand?

"Shrimp, listen." I stopped staring at the ground and looked at Anko with wide brown eyes. "You're smart. I'm sure you'll figure out a way." That sucked. I had hoped she would give me a few ideas on how to defeat both of them. After telling Anko that my chakra wasn't that jacked up anymore, we devised a plan.

Over the month, Mitarashi Anko put me through the toughest training we had ever gone through and we only worked on two things; speed and my other senses. She increased my weights to twice their weight and had me run a marathon every other day before practice. After the 'warm-up,' she blindfolded me and told me to counter her attacks. The first week of this had been absolute hell. I had gotten numerous bruises and scratches from just not hearing Anko kicking or punching.

"C'mon, Shrimp. Feel where I am; stop me before I get there." My anger was peaking quickly. I had gotten 3 new bruises just this week. If I could see where she was, I'd kill her.

"What the hell does that even mean?!" I yelled from the top of a builder. I was fairly certain I would've sprained an ankle from fighting blindfolded on a large pile of rocks, but so far I was doing okay.

"I can't explain it all that well, Shrimp. Just, feel my chakra signature and try to outline the shape of my body," she explained in front of me, not getting angry with my outbursts. Taking deep breathes, I calmed down, lowering my breathing rate so I could try to hear her.

"I said feel my energy, not listen," she ordered. But wasn't that part of the exercise? Seeking out Anko's chakra signature, I found it a couple of feet in front of me in the shape of a ball. Now what...? Didn't chakra travel everywhere in your body? I should be able to feel the chakra or 'energy' that Anko had.

Closing my mind of any distractions, I focused on her chakra. Rare wind rustled my hair from under my hat. Sweat was lightly pushed to the right side of whatever patch of skin it was on. I ignored my annoying heavy top and shorts; both were covered in light sweat. The weights on my wrists and ankles were constantly reminding me of their presence. I had had to start wrapping my arms and legs a week ago, after I found out that there were bloody rashes on my arms after I had taken my weights off.

Slowly, Anko's chakra expanded, forming a stick figure of chakra in my mind. It was the same distance away, but now it actually looked like something. A grin broke out across my face and I heard Anko chuckle. Without warning, the stick figure lunged at me, throwing a right punch to my face. Putting up my bent left arm, our forearms intercepted and I quickly launched my left leg at the stick figure's unprotected side... er, spine. Unfortunately, Anko caught my leg and twisted it. Knowing she could break my leg if she turned it the wrong way, I leapt off my right leg and jerked my shoulders to the way that she was twisting my left leg, keeping it at the correct angle.

Anko let go of my left leg, leaving me twisting myself horizontally in the air. Since I couldn't land with my hands or feet, I landed on my side. Quickly rolling to the right, I avoided a punch aimed at the ground.

"Good job, Shrimp, but you're still not ready. Take off the blindfold," I heard Anko say. Removing the thick black cloth, I finally saw Anko. I got up.

"Along with sensing other peoples' locations, you need to know what's going on. I know you were trying to hear me, so that's good. We'll keep working on that. The last thing is taste."

"Taste?" Why would I taste anyone?

"Don't give me that look," she snapped. "You heard me. I said "taste" and along with taste, there is smell. They go hand and hand together. If you can't smell anything, try opening your mouth; maybe you'll catch a taste of something in the air. This will happen a lot, because the human nose goes noseblind to lots of smells throughout your life. Get it?" I nodded slowly.

"Good. Put the blindfold back on."

This went on for two weeks until I was able to identify where Anko was and deflect weapons when they were thrown at me. I still only knew the Basic Three, so I had to be smart about how to use them. Oh yeah, she had me master those. Mastering meaning: do them without handsigns. This was by far the hardest thing I had to learn during the month.

"Anko! This isn't working," I shouted, angrily. Anko was sitting down on a boulder, watching me try to master the Transformation Jutsu in the hot sun, standing on a hot boulder.

"Shut up, Shrimp. Try harder." Well, that really helped. Resisting the urge to form the handseals, I urged my chakra to do the Transformation Jutsu.

"Can't I just use one handsign?" I asked, wiping sweat off my neck. My hat could only do so much for the hot weather.

"No!" Anko yelled. "Do you want to give yourself away?" Ugh!

At the end of the month, I had finally gotten down how to do the Transformation Jutsu without signs, but I still needed to form signs for the Clone Jutsu and the Replacement Jutsu. It wasn't what Anko wanted, but I had honestly tried my hardest. It didn't help that there were still some kinks in my chakra system, sometimes not even letting me use it.

"Well, Shrimp. You've worked hard. But I wouldn't be surprised if you died in the last round," she chortled. We had just finished the last practice of the month, giving us four days until the Final Exam. My muscles were extremely sore, and felt tight when I bent my arms or moved my legs. These last few days until the exam were cool down days, giving my muscles a chance to... um... not be so sore? I don't know; did muscles heal or did they get better? I didn't pay that much attention in Biology as a freshman.

"Geez... Thanks..." I replied, laying on the ground, leaning against a boulder next to Anko. She rummaged around, looking for something.

"Forget your bra?" I laughed at my own joke. She glared at me and then pulled something out of her cream colored trench coat.

"Here. I want you to have it." Catching whatever it was, I discovered it was a scroll with a snake drawing on it.

"Thanks! What is it?" I asked, looking at her confused. She rolled her eyes and adjusted her coat.

"It's a summoning contract. Draw a summoning circle on the ground with whatever you can, open the scroll, and sign your name on one of the lines," she explained. We had learned about summoning contracts in the Academy and we knew how to form a summoning circle, but I didn't know this was a summoning contract. Iruka never taught us what they looked like.

"Gee... Thanks. Why are you giving this to me?" I asked. Summoning contracts were rare and couldn't be found at a regular shop. Iruka also told us that we had to be given one from another shinobi or that we had to kill for one.

"Shrimp, I'm not going to lie to you. You've got problems." My face fell when she said this. I had worked so hard to be well-rounded and she still told me this? "Shrimp!" Anko snapped. I looked at her with a neutral face; no smile, yet no frown.

"You're okay." I smiled, looking at the scroll in my hands. She had given me a gift. I was used to not getting anything. It was hard, the first year, not having Christmas or Thanksgiving or any type of holiday. The only thing resembling a holiday in Konoha was the Festival of Lights, where they celebrated the peace. I never went to it because I had never had enough money until 'The Holocaust' was published. Even then, I never went. I was always to homesick to go. Every time that festival came up, I treated it like another day. This year, I didn't think my team would let me miss it.

"What're you waiting for?" Anko asked, breaking me from my thoughts about Christmas. Standing up, I dusted the pebbles and dirt that stuck to the back of my legs off. I drew a circle and formed three symbols in the middle of it. Then, I opened the scroll, but paused when I read the names already there.

 _Orochimaru. One of the Legendary 3._

 _A missing-nin_.

"So... That One Guy signed this too?" I asked, staring at the neatly printed signature. Anko put one hand to her forehead and one hand out in front of her, palm up.

"I get it if you don't want to sign the same thing as him. I hate him too." To be honest, the only reason I wasn't signing it right now, was because I wanted to find a dinosaur summoning contract. It'd be so cool to summon Velociraptors and T-Rex's at will. Also, I could use the Pterodactyls to fly. If my eyes could turn into stars, they would, because I wanted that type of contract.

"No, no..." You could break off summoning contracts, right? "I just... had a special species in mind for my first summoning contract, you know?"

"It isn't easy to come across a contract, Shrimp. Are you going to sign it or not?" She asked. I slowly nodded, not sure if I even liked snakes. Setting the scroll on the ground, I cut my finger with a kunai and sloppily wrote "Kabucha" on the line next to Orochimaru's name. Anko's name had been under his, so I couldn't write it there. I smeared the blood onto both hands and placed my fingertips below my name. Resisting the urge to wipe my bloody, red hands on my shirt, I formed the necessary handsigns and put my hand gently in the middle of the summoning circle, pouring as much chakra as I could into it.

The most unexpected thing happened.

A large, green, 6-ft snake that stood taller than either of us appeared. It's tail had a large rattle on the end of it and on its head was a...

Was that a sombrero?

"¿Qué?" It said in a stereotypical, snakelike voice. "¿Donde es la fiesta?" (What? Where is the party?) It looked around, observing its new surroundings.

"Damnit. Shrimp, this one speaks a snake language. Nobody can understand it. I've summoned it once. Sorry if this is a disappointment," she said, slapping a palm on her forehead.

"¿Cómo te llamas?" (What's your name?) I asked it, ignoring Anko's pathetic apology. How did I summon a snake that spoke Spanish? Swiveling its head, it turned its yellow-eyed gaze on me. It's mouth was open and I could see the two sharp, large, white teeth in the front of its mouth. When it spoke, its red, forked tongue went in and out of its mouth, making me uncomfortable.

"Wait, you can understand it?" Anko asked, gawking. The snake saw Anko's bewildered expression and gave a wraspy laugh.

"Me llamo Gimá. ¿Y tu?" (My name's Gimá. And you?) It replied, shaking its rattle with amusement.

"Kabucha. ¿Tu hablas español bueno?" (Kabucha. Do you speak good Spanish?) I replied, wondering how in the hell this snake knew Spanish. I only knew the fundamental basics, so I didn't even know if I was saying this right.

"Sí. ¿Como sabes español?" (Yes. How do you know Spanish?) It asked. Oh crap. "Sabes," was a conjugated form of "saber," and I had forgotten what "saber" meant. "Como" was how and español meant Spanish, so I assumed "saber" meant "to know." It wasn't "to speak," because that was "hablar."

"Un momento, por favor," (A moment, please,) I replied, trying to think of the correct translation. It nodded its head, allowing giving me time.

"What're you doi-"

"Shh! I don't know the language very well, so I need time to translate it," I explained. Anko nodded, though I was sure she was still confused.

"¿Como sabes español?" (How do you know Spanish?) Gimá asked again, impatiently.

"Clases para segundo mundo," (Classes for a second world,) I answered quickly, not wanting to piss off a snake. Gimá nodded to show he understood.

"¿Dónde estoy?" (Where am I?) He asked, slithering over the hot boulders to get a better view of the training ground. The snake didn't seem to mind the hot sun or boulders. Maybe it was a snake thing...? Oh yeah; snakes were made for the heat.

"Konoha," I replied, not knowing how to say it in Spanish. I had only completed Spanish 1 and half of Spanish 2, so I didn't know some parts of the language yet.

"¿Tu dijiste mundo segundo?" (You said a second world?) Gimá stated, looking at me. Gulping, I nodded, realizing I had said "second world" wrong and also not knowing what he had said. To my surprise, he started laughing his wraspy laugh again, the little ornaments on his sombrero shaking.

"Eres comica, muchacha pequeña." (You are funny, little girl.)

After we finished the introductions, Gimá curled up on the hot rocks and sun bathed, leaving a very confused Anko and me sitting in the shade of some trees.

"You know what? I'm not even going to ask," Anko stated, tired of trying to translate the language. "Good luck at the Finals. I'll be watching." We said our goodbyes and she left, leaving me wondering if I needed to brush up on my Spanish speaking skills.

"Gimá," I called out, wondering if the giant snake was asleep. The green snake lifted its sombrero clad head lazily and looked at me with sleepy yellow eyes.

"¿Sí?" (Yes?) He replied, hissing out the 's.'

"¿Tu hablas ingles?" (Do you speak English?)

"¿Ingles?" (English?) Gimá asked, with a confused tone, slithering off the boulder he had been resting on and settling in the shade next to me. "Qué es ingles?" (What is English?)

"Nada," (Nothing,) I said, waving him off. After thinking about how this language thing could affect us in a fight, I thought of another question.

"¿Más serpientes hablan español?" (More snakes speak Spanish?) I didn't know how to say, "do other," so I said "more."

"Sí. No todos ellos aunque. ¿Por qué?" (Yes. Not all of them though. Why?)

"Yo hablo poco." (I speak a little Spanish.)

"Ah. No hay problema porque te ayudaré." (Ah. It's not a problem because I will help you.) A small smile appeared on my face. I put my hands over my head and started counting the boulders. Even though I didn't know all of what he said, I think I got a general idea.

"Gracias, Gimá." (Thanks, Gimá.) The snake looked over with his awesome yellow eyes.

"De nada." (You're welcome.")

After watching the sun slowly descend from the center of the sky, I decided that we would need to get familiar with each other's attacks. This is when Gimá and I ran into an unexpected communication problem.

"Tu," (You,) I started and then punched the air, trying to show him what I meant. I needed him to show me his moves so I knew when to summon him during battles.

"¿Mis movimientos?" (My moves?) Gimá asked, rattling his tail in frustration. We had been trying to understand what the other one was saying for about 45 minutes. I shook my head, not knowing if "movimientos" was a cognate for "moves" or not. I didn't want to risk saying yes and then him attacking me, thinking I knew what he had said.

"Tu fight?" I said, giving up on trying to act it out and opted to start saying the words in English, since Spanish was much closer to English than Japanese.

"¡Ah! ¿Quieres comer fruta?" (Ah! You want to eat fruit?) "¿Por qué?" (Why?) He took on a confused expression... well, as confused as a 6 ft snake can look.

"Uhhhhh!" I groaned, putting my hands on my face. How were we going to communicate on the battlefield if we couldn't communicate here?


	16. Bonding

**AN: Thank you so much for all the support! Thank you, kani-leek-lover, for all your amazing reviews! Thank you to everyone who favorites or follows this story and I'm glad a lot of people like it! Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 16**

At dawn the next day, I woke up and set straight to the training grounds, armed with soldier pills, a snack, and newfound confidence. I had reviewed my Spanish vocabulary the night before and felt confident that Gimá and I could understand each other. If not through talking, then through hand signals and poorly drawn pictures.

Arriving at the training ground with crumbs on my shirt from the sandwich I ate this morning, I wasted no time in summoning Gimá.

"¿Que hora es?" (What time is it?) The snake asked, opening his jaws wide and releasing a rather pathetic yawn, in my opinion. He was sombrero-less and I could barely see him in the early morning black.

"Seis y treinta," (6:30,) I replied, yawning myself. He rolled his eyes and did some sort of roll, twisting and turning his body until I heard multiple 'pops!'

"¿Por qué?" (Why?) He hissed, obviously not pleased with the time. I stretched too, not wanting to pull a muscle during the long hours ahead of us.

"Nosotros trabajamos dia." (We work day.) His eyes rolled and the annoyance today was starting to become clearer. This snake's attitude needed to go, now.

Through a system of pointing and acting stuff out, we both got into different boulders and were currently staring at the other, trying to figure out how to communicate. Before I could say anything, Gimá started slithering on his rock.

"¿Qué?" (What?) I asked, confused as to why he would be moving when we just got into position. Position for what though? We still didn't have a clear concept of what the other one was trying to convey.

"Yo movimiento." (I move.) So he was moving and he said "yo," so that meant "I move." I gave him a thumbs up to tell him I understood and he stopped slithering.

"¿Vas a traer más amigos?" (Are you going to bring more friends?) He asked suddenly. Huh? Did he mean my friends or his friends? Summoning Gimá had only taken a quarter of my chakra reserves, so I could still summon one more. I didn't want to summon two because I needed to show him or them my moves, so they could add to it or they show me theirs.

I pointed to myself, but he shook his head.

"Yo," (Me,) The sleepy snake replied, pointing at himself with his rattler. I was amazed that he even bothered to raise himself a yard above the ground if he was so tired. I nodded my head and held up one finger.

"Uno más." (One more.) He nodded his head slightly, tiredly. Did snakes have coffee? If so, Gimá needed some.

Making another summoning circle, I formed the handsigns again and poured chakra to my hands. Appearing in a poof of smoke, was a huge snake with a light blue nightcap on. What was with these snakes and their hats? How did they even put them on?

"¿Gimá, donde estoy?" (Gimá, where am I?) It asked, shaking the sleep off. The snake was at least twice as big as Gimá and had a dark purple body with a yellow diamondback pattern on its back, making it extremely difficult to see. Its eyes were yellow, like Gimá's and it was about a foot wide, like him too.

"Konoha," I answered, drawing its attention from the other snake. It rolled it's eyes.

"¿Tu hablas español?" (You speak Spanish?) It asked, more interested than shocked. It was probably tired.

"Sí. Gimá, informas rápidomente, por favor." (Yes. Gimá, inform quickly, please.) The green snake sighed (hissed) and started to quickly speak in Spanish. The purple one kept rolling its eyes every so often, sometimes letting out a puny yawn. Definitely tired.

"Me llama Yuki. ¿Tu llamas Kasuka?" (My name's Yuki. Your name is Kasuka?) Yuki asked, confirming what Gimá told her. Before I could correct her, Gimá hissed at me, reminding me that we were standing on boulders at 6:30 in the morning, talking. Kasuka it was then.

"Primero, el examen es en tres dias," (First, the exam is in three days,) I started, wanting to figure out battle formations quickly. The snakes nodded, too tired to speak.

"Bien." (Good.) I was really glad they weren't giving me attitude, like I thought they would. It wasn't a new day without a little attitude to start it off. That's what usually happened in my past life. Readjusting my metal hat, I yawned and tried to think of their strengths.

"Primero, uh... Poisonous?" I tried, knowing they wouldn't understand. "Venom? Venomous?" I started, but saw Yuki's eyes go up and down, nodding her head.

"Soy venenosa." (I'm poisonous.) Looking at Gimá, he shook his head. So the girl was deadly, but he was not? Funny.

"No soy venenosa." (I'm not poisonous.) Clapping my hands together, I plastered a smile onto my face. Today was going to be a good day.

"¿Comó venenosa?" (How poisonous?) I asked, looking back to Yuki's purple, nightcap clad head.

"Muy venenosa. Cuatro dias." (Very poisonous. Four days.) Clapping my hands together again, I startled the snakes, whose eyes had widened at the loud sound. Good, they were finally awake. Yuki stretched and did that weird roll thing that Gimá had done, popping her uh... spine? Did snakes have spines?

"Hay un hombre en ese árbol," (There's a man in that tree,) Yuki said, fully awake. Was she a sensory and a poisonous snake? Score! It took me a minute to figure out what she had said, but once I did, I silently pointed at the tree, not wanting to have to fight an enemy-nin at 6:30. Before they could start slithering towards it, Guy jumped out of the tree with a grin on his face.

"¡Deja!" (Stop!) I called out. Yuki and Gimá's faces fell, like they had been looking forward to ripping somebody to shreds. Did they not eat breakfast? Oh wait, I had summoned them from their beds, so no, they hadn't.

"Good morning, Kabucha-chan!" Guy boomed, more than happy to deafen my ears. He was wearing an award winning grin, like his student didn't get crushed a month ago.

"Morning. Why're you up so early, Guy-sensei?" I asked, rubbing my eyes to get the last bit of sleep out. To my complete and utter disgust, he started doing jumping jacks. Who had time to do jumping jacks at 6:45?!

"I'm training, Kabucha-chan! I beat the sun by waking up early and begin my training!" He said, giving me a thumbs up. His teeth somehow, were brighter than the snakes' eyes, and that was saying a lot, seeing as how making eye contact with them in the dark was irritating. It was like staring at a neon sign; it just didn't work.

"¿Qué?" Gimá asked, tilting his head at the spandex wearing jounin.

"Nada. Ello es mi profe, Might Guy." (Nothing. He is my teacher, Might Guy.) It had taken me a couple of seconds to find the right words, leaving Guy a little confused.

"Oh? Kabucha-chan, did you get a summoning contract from Anko?" Guy asked, now doing knee-ups, pushing his knees up to his waist. Yuki stared at the man, still in her nightcap, unable to believe that anyone could have that much energy in the morning.

"Yeah." I shuffled my feet, suddenly regretting getting up this early.

"How youthful!" He shouted, doing push-ups. "The Fires of Youth are strong within you, Kabucha-chan." It didn't sound that different than that one line from Star Wars.

"The Force is strong within this one."

"¿-chan?" Gimá repeated confused, looking to Yuki for an answer.

"Bonita, yo penso," (Pretty, I think,) The bigger snake replied. Gimá snorted at Guy calling me "pretty." Guy paused mid-crunch and stared at us.

"What language is that?" He asked, brows furrowed in confusion, yet spoke in a friendly tone.

"A snake one." The snakes nodded with approval at my answer. Maybe to them, Spanish was a snake language that only snakes knew. Maybe I would rename it "Snakish." I almost laughed, but I remembered it was morning. I was like Harry Potter. I could speak to snakes.

"Kabucha-chan!" In the background, I heard Gimá parrot Guy with amusement. "The Will of Fire burns brightly in you! I'm so proud!" He exclaimed, stars in his eyes. Guy should be a personal trainer, what, with all the enthusiasm he has.

"Thanks, Guy! How's Lee doing?" I said, changing the subject. I just wasn't comfortable talking about the Fires of Youth burning in me.

"¿Quien Lee?" (Who's Lee?) Yuki asked, picking up snippets of our conversation. Gimá was still laughing at the "-chan" thing.

"Lee is my best student. He was crushed by an opponent a month ago," Guy explained, not realizing they couldn't understand him. "He can't be a ninja with his injuries."

"They won't heal?" I asked. I knew a crushed limb wouldn't heal itself, but weren't there medics?

"¿Quien Lee?" (Who's Lee?) Yuki asked again. Gimá seemed to have calmed down from the honorific, but he still had a slight upturn of the lips.

"There's nobody that can heal them," Guy explained with a solemn expression. He seemed to have lost his enthusiasm when he talked about Lee.

"What? But a medic-nin healed my cuts and bruises. Why can't they do that for Lee?" I threw a glare at Yuki before she could ask who Lee was again, wanting to hear Guy's answer.

"He has crushed bone and torn muscles. The medic-nins told me it was a miracle he still had his arm and leg."

"I'm sorry, Guy. When are we allowed to visit him?" Guy glanced at the sky, which was just beginning to take on an orangish hue.

"In about an hour. Now, Kabucha-chan, are you ready for your final match?" He exclaimed, yelling a little loud for my liking.

"Yeah. I trained with Anko the whole month." He rubbed his chin and closed his eyes. Was he okay?

"Mitarashi Anko, the only jounin to rival my training methods. Of course, Kakashi and I are still eternal rivals!" He boomed, giving me a thumbs up. I didn't need that.

"Of course," I repeated weakly, wishing he would tone it down a little. He was still awesome though. A loud coach was a good coach.

"¿Anko?" Gimá repeated, rattling his tail for some reason.

"Mitarashi Anko no es un buen dueño," (Mitarashi Anko isn't a good owner,) Yuki added with narrow eyes. What did that mean? They obviously didn't like Anko. Well, Anko did say she couldn't understand them...

"What are they saying?" Guy asked, watching the snakes' reactions with a curious expression.

"I don't know. I've only learned so much of their language," I answered. "Well, Guy, it was good to see you, but we really need to get back to training." He nodded with a bright smile that made even the snakes cringe.

"Alright, Kabucha-chan!" Gimá repeated him, giggling at the honorific yet again. "I adore your commitment! Also, do not forget to visit Lee! He will be thrilled to have visitors! Keep up the good work!" He bounced off, giving me a thumbs up as he passed.

"¿Quien Lee?" (Who's Lee?) The reason I didn't attack Yuki, was because she had poison and I didn't need to be stuck in a hospital before the Final Exam.

We worked the morning away with better results than 6:30. I discovered that Gimá could slither underground regardless of the soil or how hard the ground was, as could Yuki, but Yuki was slower because of her size. They both had a massive jaw and I suspected being bit by one of them was like getting a sword impaled through you. After asking if they had any problems with getting summoned in three days, they both told me not to summon them during the night again.

"Duly noted," I said sarcastically.

"¿Qué?" (What?) Yuki asked with the same snakey voice as Gimá, but it was a little higher than his voice.

"Nada." (Nothing.)

The next thing I did was demonstrate my spiky volleybombs, to make sure they knew what was coming if I activated one. Through crude drawings in the dirt, Yuki and Gimá both recommended that I use smaller snakes too, as they pack more venom.

"¿Cobras?" Yuki nodded.

"Sí. Cobras y rattlesna-"

"Diamondbacks," Gimá cut in. Yuki rolled her eyes and nodded at that.

"Bien." (Good.) I'm glad my snakes recommended which ones to summon, although they did warn me that there could be times when one of them was not available, and a substitute that was friends with the other snake would go.

Looking at the sky, I realized I could visit Lee now. When I started to walk away from the training ground, I realized my snakes had been following.

"No," I commanded.

"¿Porque no?" (Why not?) Gimá asked.

"No," I repeated, hoping they would get the message, as I didn't know how to say it.

"Ugh...!" Yuki said, disappearing in a poof of smoke. After arguing with Gimá for a little bit, he left as well.

"Your snakes not listening to you, Shrimp?" Anko asked, dropping down from a tree. The day was starting to turn hot, the cool air from the morning slowly disappearing, much to my disappointment.

"No, but they've been asking a lot of questions. Is that normal?" I said, looking at Anko, who was now walking besides me through the forest that led back to the village.

"I don't know. I do know that I can't understand them. How can you, Shrimp?"

"I guess I'm better than you," I replied, smirking. That comment earned me a thump to the head.

"As if." By the time we got to the hospital, the sun was now out and people were milling the once empty streets of Konoha. Waving goodbye to Anko, I entered the hospital and gave my name and who I was looking for to the receptionist, who recognized my large hat.

"Room 207," she stated, blowing an impressively large bubble with her gum. Walking up two flights of stairs, I entered the hallway of rooms 200-299.

Was that the redhead from Suna? Gaara? Why would he- He's probably visiting someone else. What a caring dude. That's the kind of guy I wanted. Someone who was funny and cared and loved me? I've never had a boyfriend, so I've never known what it's like to really love someone. I always assumed it was a best friends type of relationship, where they joked around and laughed at the other's joke and were only intimate at the rarest of times. Oh, how I wanted that. _I was a 19-year old, what could I say?_

Walking on the checker boarded floors, I scanned the room numbers for Room 207. I was reminded of the medical station in the Edam Center, since they both had the same cold air and smelled like bacterial soap. I thought Gaara had disappeared in a room next to Room 207, not in 207, but when I opened the door, I caught him staring at Lee. Wait. Hadn't he been the one to put him there? _Wasn't he my opponent in three days?_

"What're you doing here?" I asked cooly. I knew what it was like to be immobilized, and it wasn't fun. Why would he visit Lee?

"Blood," he whispered, pointing a hand at Lee. Wait, was he-

"Whoa! What're you doing?" I yelled, shoving him to the side. He didn't fall over, but he glared at me with hatred as he regained his footing.

"What's your problem?! He can't move, idiot! Who let you in here?" They needed to up the security for this place.

Instead of trying to kill Lee again, he pointed a hand at me. Sand erupted from the gourd on his back and shot towards me. Not wanting to damage any medical equipment around Lee, I didn't deflect it. If I had, it would've hit the unconscious Lee or damaged vital supplies he needed.

The sand engulfed me and at that moment, I wondered what Death would say.

 **"I told you I once, you stupid Outsider. You can't enter my belly."**

If he said those exact words, somebody owes me money.

"That's enough," Guy said, putting a hand on Gaara's shoulder. It looked like he wanted to lash out at Guy, but realizing it was a jounin, the sand retreated back into his gourd and the lid was back on it. I brushed some stray sand off my clothes.

"Your blood..." He whispered, looking at me. "I can't wait to spill it." Guy gave him a gentle push towards the hallway, silently telling him to leave.

I opened my mouth to call him a "creep," but my conscious caught up to me. I had almost called someone a bad name, something that would make them feel bad. Even though he almost killed Lee and I, I didn't want to go down knowing that I had done that. I knew what it was like to be called a mean name; I knew _all too well._ Seriously though, who talked like that? _Oh I can't wait to spill your blood!_ An overgrown brat that doesn't known his place, that's who. Maybe he didn't have parents to discipline him.

"When'd you get here?" I asked Guy. He gave me a thumbs up and smiled his most charming smile.

"I just got here! And right on time, too!" He yelled, waking up Lee with his obnoxiously loud voice.

"Guy-sensei?" Lee said, groggily. Spotting me, a grin broke out across his face. Why? I didn't know him very well.

"Hey. I, uh, don't really know you, but we talked in the Forest of Death and I heard what happened," I finished explaining, awkwardly, rubbing the back of my head. It wasn't much, at least not to me. What could I say? I really only made chit-chat back in the forest to pass time, so I understood if it was awkward that I visited him.

"If I had known you were going to wake up, I would've grabbed waffles or something." Wait... did waffles exist here? Yeah... they did. I had them last week for dinner.

"That's okay!" Lee said loudly, not yet able to yell. "Thank you for being so courteous!" Geez... It was just waffles...

Hell, I'd be excited too. It was waffles.

"The Fire of Youth burns brightly in both of you!" Guy proclaimed, tears running down his face. Lee started to cry a little too and I couldn't deny that a lone tear escaped me.

" _Teagen?" An occupational therapist called. Getting up from the waiting area, I crutched my way behind the lobby area, setting eyes on multiple pieces of equipment needed to rehabilitate different parts of your body. It was my first time at rehab and it definitely wasn't my last._

 _"Hi, Teagen!" An O.C. said kindly. "We can set you up on this bed here." She gestured to a red mat with padding that belonged in a gymnastics facility. Setting my crutches to the side, I climbed onto the 'bed,' and swung my right leg up._

 _My right knee was currently in a large, skeletal, black brace that kept my from bending my right leg. Underneath the brace, there were slightly bloody ACE bandages wrapped loosely around my leg. Under those, were white bandages to keep my stitches together and to stop the bleeding. These bandages wouldn't come off for a long time._

"Guy-sensei, we're making Kabucha-chan cry!" Lee exclaimed, seeing my tear.

 _-chan?_

"It's that Fire of Youth, Lee-kun!" I yelled, trying to get rid of the sudden attention directed at me. I'll admit, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have yelled in a hospital room, but seeing Lee in a cast brought back familiar memories. He had also called me "Kabucha-chan." Nobody but my parents and on rare occasions, my friends, had ever called me pretty. Maybe I was intercepting it wrong, yeah.

This village was like a big family. People cared for one another and they sacrificed themselves for one another, no questions asked. High School was the exact opposite. People that I thought were friends with me, threw me under the bus to boost their reputation, or make themselves look good. That's why I had outcast myself, because I didn't want to be betrayed.

It was mass hysteria. Guy and Lee were crying about the Fire of Youth and for some reason, that made me cry. Such dedication, determination. Lee still had the mindset of a ninja, even though he couldn't be one anymore. My heart went out to him; he had trained so hard and dedicated himself to getting better, and now? He couldn't do any of that.

"Lee-kun!" I said, loudly.

"Kabucha-chan!" He replied in the same manner, looking at me with a smile in his eyes.

"Don't you ever give up! I believe in you, Lee!" Next to me, Guy smiled. Lee fist pumped the air.

"Never, Kabucha-chan!" He declared. A thumping in my chest started and before I knew it, I was crying all over again.

"Kabucha-chan, why're you crying?" Gai asked, rubbing his chin and watching the scene unfold. We hadn't even been talking about the Fire of Youth or the Will of Fire at all.

"You're so dedicated, Lee. I admire you," I stated, tears streaming down my face. I wiped my cheeks in an effort to stop them, oblivious to Guy's scrutinizing gaze.

 _"Don't be a crybaby,"_ my mother's voice whispered in my head. I remembered that memory; I had been crying in the shower, looking at the plastic bag over my leg. We couldn't get the bandages or brace wet. The realization that I wouldn't be able to run for 7 months had finally hit me.

 _Yes ma'am._

"Thank you, Kabucha-chan!" Lee said, giving me a thumbs up. I forced the waterworks to close the gates. I cried because that scene was very familiar to me. It was so vividly similar, that I could see myself laying in that bed with a cast on.

I cried because I saw myself in Lee.

* * *

 _Guy's P.O.V._

I was confused. It was regular for Lee and I to cry when the Fire of Youth was mentioned, but seeing Kabucha cry was something new to me. In all my years that I had known this kunoichi, I had never seen her cry; not once, until now. I had mentioned the Will of Fire and the Flames of Youth around her lots of times, but she hadn't shed a single tear. Did her tears have something to do with Lee? I didn't understand; nobody cried when they saw their crush, except for maybe Ino and Sakura, but Kabucha wasn't like them. She was serious and at most times, rarely talked, but she was a good person. Kabucha knew when what times she could be funny and serious.

I had seen her looking at Lee's bandaged arm and leg; maybe that was it? She was crying because he was injured? No, that didn't make sense. I watched her face, looking for any signs of why she was crying. A couple of minutes ago, her face had taken on a look of tranquility and she had been staring at Lee's injuries. Maybe this reminded her of something?

When I had first seen Kabucha, she was 8. I had spotted her finishing up her solo practice with lunges. Several thoughts had run through my head. _Wasn't she one of the orphans, like Naruto? Why did she take training seriously?_ When I was 8, my father had to push me to train. This girl, this little girl didn't have anyone, yet she took time out of her day to train herself? It was like she had the mindset of an older person.

Of course, I couldn't immediately assume things based on what I saw, so I had introduced myself and offered her new ways to further along her training. To my shock, she had listened to every word I had said and the next day, I watched her go through each and every one of the things I had told her, along with the old exercises. Even though she was covered in sweat just finishing everything, she got up from where she had been sitting in the shade of a tree, and did them again. When I had asked her what her motivation was, I told myself that perhaps this wasn't a normal 8-year old orphan. It had taken her several moments to think up her answer.

 _"My motivation...? I want to...," she paused and a sorrowful look flashed across her face before it disappeared, "become strong. If I want to survive as a *cough* ninja, then I need to be better than the next person. The people I fight in... the future, could be training right now. If I take a break or finish practice early or hold myself back... then I'm just giving them the opportunity to beat me. Becoming strong..." she looked at a tree to the right of her, as if remembering something, "will help me survive."_

 _"Who told you these things?" I asked, wondering if this girl already knew what the shinobi way of life was like. Her eyes flickered back to me and she smiled, with both her mouth and her eyes._

 _"I just don't wanna die."_


	17. Unexpected Surprise

**AN: I'm sorry if this came out late! Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! I'm sorry if this the story isn't a romance one or whatever! I know a lot of OC's from other stories tend to be a parental figure for Naruto, but I'm trying to be realistic! Again, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 17**

"Temou, I got a summon!" I exclaimed, opening the door to his shop. Gimá and Yuki weren't with me though. There was just two days until the Final Exam and I decided to spend the day with Temou since we hadn't talked in over a month.

"That's great!" He yelled from the backroom. "What kind?"

"What're you doing back there?" I asked loudly, taking off my hat and propping it up against the chair I was sitting on. I could hear him moving things, boxes I think.

"I heard you come in and I'm getting you something I've been working on," he answered. Running a hand through my thick, short, brown hair, I stared at the door to the backroom, as if I could see through it like a Hyuuga.

"Here we are...," I heard him say, and a minute later, he pushed the door to the backroom open, revealing a large box in his hands.

"So what kind of summon is it?" He asked, wiping his face of excess sweat.

"A snake summon..." I answered. "What's in the box?" He rolled his eyes when he heard, "snake," but he didn't comment on it. Temou knew I had been training with Anko, so he couldn't complain anymore.

"I had some leftover C4 from last week's order and I was thinking maybe you could take it?"

"What's C4?" I questioned. It sounded like some kind of car. Temou opened the box and let me peer inside. Huh? It was a huge glob of white clay.

"A highly explosive material used by most nuke-nin. Since I'm your only weapons dealer, I knew you didn't have any, so I'm giving this to you," he said. I pinched a little off of the big stack and smelled it. It didn't smell like gunpowder... in fact, it didn't smell like anything at all.

"I don't smell gunpowder...," I remarked, twisting and turning the piece of clay in my hands, trying to figure out how this stuff could be explosive. Temou chuckled at my confused expression.

"It's not meant to have a smell, Kabucha. That's what makes it so deadly." I wrinkled my nose and put the small piece back with the rest.

"How's it work?" Instead of answering, Temou rummaged around in the front desk's drawers, before slapping a paper on the counter.

"This is the instructions for how to use C4. Take a look." Grabbing the paper, I read the instructions and put it back, looking at Temou.

"There's only two instructions," I said. Temou laughed.

"I know! Isn't it simple? All you have to do is form something with the clay and then launch it at your enemy! Then, kaboom!" Temou explained, gesturing a bomb going off with his hands.

"Why're you... nevermind." I sealed the C4 in my hat and then put it back on the floor. "Hey, Temou. There's the Final Exam coming up for the Chuunin Exams... are you gonna watch?"

"I already bought my ticket. Who's Gaara? I know Uchiha Sasuke, though he rarely shops here. It says here that you're fighting the winner of their match," he replied, showing me the ticket with all the matches on it.

"A sand user," I said, not too excited.

"Do you have a plan for both of them?" Temou asked, watching my expression change.

"Uh... I think so."

"You better. I've heard the Uchiha has been training under the Copy Cat ninja the whole month. Weren't you training with Anko?" I nodded. "Well... I guess we'll see who'll win. I'll be rooting for you!" He exclaimed, causing me to smile. I had to win.

After I thanked him, I left the shop with a little bit more hope. Maybe, with this C4, I would be a match for the Uchiha or even Gaara. Temou never failed to supply.

Sauntering along my way, I saw a billboard advertising movies. Huh, maybe if Team Ten wanted to get together some time, we could all catch a movie. Was this village like others? I mean, I was being completely random here, but I needed to know if everything was the same. Maybe they were different, like Dallas and New York, or Las Vegas and Fort Worth. I suppose it all depended on geography.

"Kabucha!" Naruto yelled front the village entrance. Oh, so he was back from training? Who was that with him? He had long, white, shaggy hair that went to his waist and wore a red and grey based outfit. Also, he had tattoos on his face. Maybe he was a thug?

"Naruto, you're back?" I asked, stopping in front of the pair. He nodded excitedly, flashing a smile.

"Yeah! I was training with Pervy Sage and-"

"I told you not to call me that!" The man yelled, whacking the back of Naruto's head. Chortling, I told Naruto to continue, but he started yelling at the "Pervy Sage."

"But you are a perv! You write perverted books!" Naruto proclaimed, pointing a finger at the older guy.

"They're works of art!" He yelled back with a huff.

"Whatever. What've you been doing, Kabucha?" Naruto asked, turning away from the guy.

"Wait, so who are you?" I replied, looking at the white haired shinobi. He was a shinobi, right? I mean, he did have a hitai-ate on.

"Jiraiya, one of the Three Legendary Sannin. And who are you, my little flower?" Naruto looked ready to smack him and so was I.

"Don't call me that. I'm Ono Kabucha, a fellow genin of Naruto." He rubbed his chin in thought, staring at my hat.

"Why're you wearing that?" He asked. "It's hiding your beauty." Naruto was right. This guy was creepy.

"You really are a pervert." He crossed his arms.

"It's opinionated. So, is that hat a weapon or...?" I shook my head.

"Why would I tell a pervert like you? Anyways, Naruto, do you want to go to that ramen place you love so much?" His eyes turned into hearts.

"Ichiraku?" I scratched my sweaty neck. Why was Konoha so hot?

"Yeah... sure. We could catch up on what we've been doing." Nodding, Naruto dragged me to "Ichiraku's" and we took a seat. Noticing that Jiraiya had followed us, I groaned internally. I didn't want to eat with a pervert.

"Yes? What would you three like?" A guy asked. He didn't look like a waiter, but I guessed he was the owner of the place.

"The usual," Naruto answered, smiling. He didn't even pick up the menu. Had he been here that many times?

"What he's having," Jiraiya said.

"Ditto."

"Alright, that'll be three orders of beef and shrimp noodles." He clicked his pen and whisked back to the kitchen, giving someone our order.

"So, are you going to take your hat off?" Jiraiya asked me. This guy wouldn't stop. What a persistent pervert.

"Why does she need to take her hat off, Pervy Sage?" If Jiraiya was annoyed by the fact that Naruto had called him a pervert again, he didn't show it.

"Well, we are in a restraunt. It'd be rude to keep your hat on." Sighing, I took the large, metal disk off my head and set it next to my chair.

"Are those seals?" He asked, snatching the hat from where it had been propped up against my seat.

"Yeah, so?" I replied with a bored voice. Who cared about a couple of seals? Well... it wasn't a couple. I had to separate the magnetic volleyballs from the spiky volleybombs, for obvious reasons. Plus, my ryo, summoning scroll, and drawing of the old world deserved their own little seal. Also, Temou had slapped another seal on it today for the C4, bringing the total to four seals. There was still plenty of room for other seals though.

"It's weird." Snatching my hat back, I put it back against my chair.

"It isn't weird."

"Yeah, Kabucha's had that hat for years!" Naruto added. The guy came back with our food and told us to dig in. Naruto inhaled it, like the pig he was. I scooped mine up quickly but not as messily as Naruto. Jiraiya ate his as well.

"So, Naruto. What'd you learn over the month?" I asked, finished with my noodles and slapping my third of the bill on the table with the other two's share.

"Well, I got a toad summon!" He started, excitedly. "And then Pervy Sage threw me off a mountain."

"Why?" Was there a point at throwing someone off a mountain? Maybe if add that to my bucketlist. Getting thrown off a mountain. Wait, technically, I couldn't die, so there wasn't a point to a bucketlist.

"To see if he could summon something big enough to catch him," Jiraiya answered, finished with his noodles as well.

"That's terrible," I commented.

"So what'd you do?" Naruto asked, finishing his 6th bowl of beef and shrimp noodles. Did he always eat this much? I bet he owed this restraunt his life with how much he spent here.

"I got a summon, too," I replied.

"Oh? What kind?"

"Snakes." At this, Jiraiya stared at me. Maybe he was undressing me with his eyes, like in the books? Ew! Or mayb-

"From who?" The pervert asked, interrupting my thoughts. Why would he ask that? I wondered how he would react if I said "Orochimaru?" I wouldn't try it out though because what if he flipped out?

"Mitarashi Anko, duh. Who else?" I answered, giving him a confused look.

"Oh, I... nothing."

"Pervy Sage, you're weird," Naruto remarked. Oh wait! Wasn't the Legendary Three Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade? That made sense. It also explained why the pervert was acting so weird.

"Agreed." After the episode with Naruto and Jiraiya, I decided to chill out at the training grounds Anko and I practiced in. Resting in the shade of a tree, I tipped my hat so that it covered my face. I was exhausted for some reason and my muscles were still tight. I didn't want to track down my team members right now because that would take time. I think I knew where I would find Ino and Choji, but I had forgotten where Shikamaru's house was. Was it even a house? Oh yeah... it was a compound, like Hinata's place.

Bah.

What should I do? I could summon Gimá and Yuki but I would have to translate what they were saying and I wasn't in the mood right now. I didn't want to train because I was trying to let my muscles rest. Hmm... I hadn't really had a chance to be lazy in this world, so I had no idea what to do with my time. Eh.

I formed two clones and they transformed into Obi-Wan and Cad Bane. Not saying anything, I watched a reenactment of their fight from T.V. It was pretty interesting and helped pass the time.

"Jedi scum," my Cad Bane clone hissed. Sweet! The clone had retained his voice!

"Maybe you should try looking in a mirror?" The Obi-Wan clone suggested. Awesome! I didn't know that they kept the same voices! I just made my own day.

Growling, Cad Bane pulled out his twin blasters. Sitting up from where I had been laying down, I eagerly waited to see if I would see the laser shots too. Pulling both triggers, the guns emitted the same sounds from the show. Activating his fake lightsaber, Obi-Wan deflected them off to the side, though no blaster marks appeared.

"This is so cool," I muttered, watching the scene unfold.

Firing more lasers at Obi-Wan, Bane smirked. Obi-Wan deflected them, hitting the blasters in his hand.

"I suggest you give up, Bane," Obi-Wan said in his English accent. Spitting his toothpick out, Bane pressed a few buttons on his arm and he was sent into the air by the jet packs on his feet. How did that work? Did he actually fly or did the clone jump high?

Shooting his flamethrower at the Jedi, Bane smirked triumphantly. Back flipping away, Obi-Wan dodged the flames. Before anything else could happen, a kunai was thrown at Cad Bane and the clone poofed out of existence.

"What?" I exclaimed, standing up. "C'mon! It was just getting good!"

"Oh, that was a clone?" I heard Kabuto say. He stepped out of the trees and into the rock infested clearing. "Sorry, Ono-san, I didn't know." The Obi-Wan clone popped itself.

"Why couldn't you just watch the fight?" I asked, angry that it had ended. It was just getting good too!

"Naturally, I thought enemy-nin were in Konoha," he replied, smiling at his mistake for some reason.

"Naturally, you're an idiot. Can't you tell those were clones?" I said, grilling him. For a brief second, something flashed in his eyes, but the look quickly disappeared.

"I'm sorry. Can't you make more?" He asked. Something came to mind about Kabuto.

"Why'd you forfeit the exams? You could've been in the Finals by now." At this, he rubbed the back of his head.

"I didn't think I was up for it," he replied, peering at me through his stupid glasses.

"To go so far, only to give up. Wise, you are not," I said, imitating Yoda. Maybe talking to Kabuto could help pass the time.

"Why're you speaking like that?" I knew he would be confused.

"Hold on. It makes more sense like this." Making another clone, it transformed into Yoda. The short, green munchkin was a funny sight to the tall figure of Kabuto and I.

"To go so far, only to give up. Wise, you are not," Yoda said, leaning on his cane with one hand. He slowly walked up to Kabuto and tapped him in the stomach with the cane.

"Who is this?" Kabuto asked, smirking at the strange appearance.

"A figment of my imagination," I replied. "Kind of like that blue guy you popped earlier."

"Kill her clone, you did. More to you, I suspect there may be, hmm?" Kabuto frowned and that same looked flashed across his face before it was gone again.

"Why does it talk like that?"

"Yoda, my name is."

"You've got quite the imagination, Ono-san," Kabuto chuckled, looking up at me. I shrugged.

"I was really bored today," I replied. Yoda closed his eyes and put both hands on the cane.

"Sense a disturbance in the Force, I do," he said.

"What's the Force?" Kabuto questioned. Why was he here? What purpose did he have, popping my clone? I knew Kabuto was smart, after all, he did have those cards. I knew he knew that Cad Bane had been a clone. I knew he didn't see a shadow. Did he do it just to talk to me? Was he too shy to confront me on his own? No, that wasn't the Kabuto I had met before the first exam.

"Everything," Yoda briefly said. Kabuto's brows furrowed in confusion. He did know that this was fake, right? Either he didn't know, or he was playing along.

"Elaborate."

"Chakra, you might call it. The Force, it is. Surrounding us, it does," Yoda explained, doing his little chortle laugh thing. My clone was spot on. Even I thought this looked and acted like the real Yoda.

"Ono-san, this is a figment of your imagination, no?" Kabuto said, suddenly. He pushed his dorky glasses up his noise.

"Uh, yeah... but why-"

"Then you actually believe in this "Force?" He interrupted, looking from Yoda to me.

"I made it up, Kabuto-san," I replied. Did he actually believe that I believed in that?

"Where'd you come up with it?" Yoda watched our conversation go back and forth.

"You ever heard of Taoism?" I asked, but he shook his head.

"Well, it's this belief that where there is darkness, there is also light. You can't have one without the other." Around us, birds had stopped chirping and the trees kept swaying. I don't know what happened to the birds; I wonder if Kabuto noticed as well?

"I see. If we lived in darkness all our life, than we wouldn't know what light was," he voiced. I knew he was smart. "But what does that have to do with the Force?" He glanced at Yoda.

"Surrounds us, it does," Yoda repeated, eyes opening. "Two parts, it is separated into. The dark and the light." My clone was freaking good at imitating Yoda.

Kabuto stared at "Yoda," as he popped.

"What happened to the birds, Ono-san?" His gaze moved to me. "Did you hear them get quiet?"

"Of course..." Where was he going with this? Was Kabuto crazy, like Gaara? He hasn't acted nuts until now. Wrinkling my nose, I decided that the first chance I got, I'd ditch Kabuto. I didn't want to be seen hanging with a dropout. I normally didn't ditch people, but Kabuto was a big boy. He could take care of himself.

"What about Jashinism?" He asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Do you believe in Jashin?" He repeated.

"No, why would yo-"

"I was just wondering," he cut off. Distinctly wondering what Jashinism was, I gave him a smile, showing it was okay.

"Do you believe in Jashin?" I asked. He smirked. I wonder if Jashinism was close to being Catholic or something.

"No." Whoa... why was he moving towards me? I took a step back when he took a step forward.

"What're you-" another step. I took another one back.

"What happened to the birds, Ono-san?" Underneath the sun, his glasses gave off its reflection and I couldn't see his eyes. He was smiling for some reason. What if the birds were dead? Why would anyone smile at that?

"I don't know, Kabuto-san..." He took more steps and I kept backing up. It was official; Kabuto was a psychopath. Well... I was too, but unlike him, I kept my plans to myself. That was a serious flaw that everyone in this world had; they talked too much, thus giving away their plans. Not me; I knew better.

"You know...," he started, but disappeared.

"Huh-?" Feeling a presence behind me, my eyes narrowed. Before I could go for a kunai or unseal a bomb, arms wrapped around my neck from behind me. Was he seriously going to kill me? I would've laughed if I wanted to give my secret away.

"What a cowardly way to kill someone," I remarked, staring at the boulders. One hand gripped the side of my head and the other, my shoulder.

"You know... There have been rumors that you survived a broken neck," Kabuto said, hot breath flooding my ear.

"Why don't you kill me and find out?" I replied, not moving. I needed some excitement in my life, maybe this is what I was looking for? I wonder what would happen when he found out I couldn't die; probably report me to the Hokage. How ironic; a traitor reporting me. I had originally planned to leave this village, but now, my plans have changed.

"Maybe I will, but first, could you please unseal that drawing in your hat?" Rolling my eyes, I slowly moved my hand to the drawing's seal, pouring a little bit of chakra into it. The drawing of the old world appeared in my hand.

"I don't know why you want it, but here ya go." I lifted it to the hand that was holding the shoulder and it snatched my drawing away.

"I could kill you, you know," I stated, sweat dripping down my forehead. Hands around my neck, Kabuto unrolled the drawing.

"Duly noted." Looking at the drawing from months ago, I noticed I didn't add a Walmart or Target. Oh well, if I got out of here, I'd add them. Rolling the drawing back up, Kabuto's hands disappeared, but something quickly tapped the back of my neck. Losing feeling in my limbs, my head drooped. I saw the world shorten and I realized that I had fallen to my knees. Unable to keep my balance, I fell over, landing on my chest. My hat fell off and bounced away somewhere. Someone (probably Kabuto) scooped me up from the ground and hoisted me over his shoulder. Arms hanging limply, I watched as we ran outside of the training ground, outside the shops, outside the village. Nobody had spotted us, so nobody stopped us.

I tried to talk, to yell, to do anything, but my mouth wouldn't move. It was like that dream I had, where I was swimming, except I couldn't move at all. I watched hopelessly as we bounded over the village walls with speed I couldn't hope to match. The last thing I saw was the residing village I had known since I was 8.


	18. A Caretaker Who Takes His Job Seriously

**AN: BONUS CHAPTER BEFORE I LEAVE TOMORROW! Happy holidays and thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites! Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 18**

 _I was in the same dark abyss of water for the third time. This time, however, it wasn't as dark as it had been. It seemed as though the water allowed some rays of sunlight to filter through. I could only spot three bright, yellow rays of light in front of me. Air wasn't a necessity and my limbs moved freely, although I was fairly certain I was still hauled over Kabuto's back._

 _I was dreaming._

 _I only moved enough to where I didn't sink; just treading water. How long did these dreams usually go on?_

 _Not catching sight of my chakra's conscience, I smirked. No busy-body to worry about._

 _What would happen at the Chuunin Exams? Would people even realize I was missing? I was an orphan after all. They would probably disqualify me for being late or something. I wonder how long it would take before people actually began to notice I wasn't around? Eh. Go with the flow._

Shooting out of the dream state, I groggily opened my eyes to leaves. Where was I? Definitely not in Konoha, that's for sure. Where was my hat and weapon's pouch?

"So glad you could join us," Kabuto commented, dryly. Sitting up, I discovered my hands were tied tightly behind my back by some sort of metal bonds, like handcuffs, but they didn't have chains in between them. They were welded together. Opening my mouth, my lips formed words, but no sound came out. _Wait, did he say "us?"_

"You can't talk and you're bound by chakra compressing cuffs. Don't even try to escape," someone else said. Looking to the right, I saw a team of Sound-nin standing up, watching me. Two boys, one girl.

"I still have business in Konoha. Take her to Otogakure's nearest lab and keep her there. I will return later with Orochimaru. Make sure she doesn't escape or it'll be your heads," he threatened with flashing glasses.

"Yes, Kabuto-sama," one of them said. Hauling me to my feet, one of the guys shoved me to the other two. The girl caught my arm and tightened her grip. Yikes, they really meant business, didn't they?

"She's a genin, so it shouldn't be hard to keep her controlled," Kabuto added. I stared at Kabuto, not able to say anything. I didn't really care that he was a traitor, but I was curious as to why he was one. Did Konoha do something bad to him and now he's getting revenge by kidnapping a genin? Who even gives a shit about genin anyway? I bet Konoha wouldn't give him ransom money if he asked for it and since I knew that, then so did he. Kabuto was smart, but the question was: _how smart?_

"Understood," the girl said. The team was composed of brown-haired shinobi. The girl had blue eyes and the other two had brown eyes. They wore Otogakure headbands. Not something I cared about.

Without saying anything else, Kabuto disappeared. The team and I trudged along.

"What do you think's so special about her?" One of the guys asked. His voice was no lighter than Naruto's. How far away was this 'lab?' I didn't want to walk very far.

"Maybe Kabuto found another person for he and Orochimaru to dissect," the girl replied. She sounded like Sakura. The entire team laughed. Orochimaru? The missing-nin? So Kabuto was allied with him, huh? And they were both with Otogakure? Interesting. I wonder if Otogakure's leader knew they were there.

"Wonder what her name is," the other guy voiced. His voice was like Shikamaru's.

We walked and walked and walked. I had lost count of how many trees I'd seen. Kicking a stone was the closest form of entertainment I could get, besides listening to the team's pointless conversation on what was for dinner. I wonder if anybody cared that I was missing... No, wait. I knew people cared. I'd asked the wrong question. _When will people notice that I was missing?_ Today? Tomorrow?

"Maybe we should start running," the girl suggested. "We could make it before nighttime." The other two were quick to disagree.

"And risk losing the prisoner? No way! You heard what Kabuto said. Didn't you hear the screams from the last team that failed Orochimaru?" The guy that sounded like Naruto said.

"Yeah, I've still got nightmares about that," said the other one. I snorted and realized I could make sounds. Seriously, how old were these guys? 14? 15? When you were a ninja, didn't you kinda have to get used to hearing screams?

"Something funny?" The girl asked, turning around and sneering at me. I raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "That's what I thought. No more noises," she ordered. Someone had told me I couldn't talk, but how? Was there a seal on me, preventing me from talking? Most likely.

The sun quickly fell and the team stopped for the night. The girl made a small campfire and one of the guys unsealed three sleeping bags. Raising an eyebrow at the arrangement, I sighed, knowing I would be sleeping on the ground. This was probably the only time I was going to be able to escape, so I had to time it perfectly.

"Don't even try to escape," the girl voiced, seeing me deep in thought. "I'm a sensory type ninja, so I'll be able to track you down immediately." I glanced down, trying to make it look like I'd lost the idea of escaping. This girl was no different from any other person I'd met in this world. _Nobody could keep their damn mouth shut._ This was good for me though, because I learned their strengths right off the bat.

"Quit bragging," the guy that sounded like Shikamaru said. She looked at him like Ino looked at Sasuke.

"Anything for you, Gunto-kun!" I frowned, trying to make the connection. Why hadn't she acted this way when we had been walking? Maybe it was because they were in enemy territory. I could only assume we were still in the Land of Fire, by the look of things.

They called out who would take watch. The girl was up first, the guy that sounded like Shikamaru second, and the one that sounded like Naruto was last. The guys were quick to go to sleep. Maybe they trusted the girl too much? Or maybe she was just that strong.

Instead of going to sleep, I lied down, facing the girl and watched her carefully. I knew the other two wouldn't go to sleep right away, unless they were trained to do that. That'd be a weird thing to train for, though.

"I know you're watching me," she said, staring into my brown eyes with her blue ones. The two guys were as tall as I was and the girl was slightly shorter. I couldn't answer what she said, so I raised an eyebrow.

"If you think I'm going to let you escape, you're wrong." Duh. That's what anyone would say. "I'll just wake the other two up and we'll catch you." She wasn't confident that she could catch me? Interesting. The more she talked, the more chances she gave me to escape.

"What does Kabuto want with you anyway? You don't look special. Your hair is short and your eyes are brown, but you're tall. You're basically average." I wanted to point out that her hair was brown too, but I couldn't speak. Without losing eye contact, I started to focus on the chakra around me. Hazy reports of two sleeping forms and one awake form filled my head and stayed that way. If I closed my eyes, I would see a white stick figure sitting on a log; the girl.

"You can't do anything without your hands, so you're useless," she stated, keeping her voice down. I tried to remember where we were. Was there anything I could use in my surroundings? Nope. We were in a forest and there was a bunch of twigs. Twigs... could they help? I could feel one poking my restrained hand. Grabbing it without appearing suspicious to the girl, I wondered what I could do with a twig.

I could make myself seem suspicious and she could come investigate what was in my hand. If she decide to get behind me and pry my hands open, then I could try to grab her hands or legs. No, that wouldn't work. Unless she had the motor skills of a baby, she would jump out of the way before I could grab her.

Maybe I could move my hands in front of me? I sat up and the girl watched me like a hawk. I slowly got into a crouching position and stepped over my bound hands, shocked that the girl didn't stop me. This was much more comfortable. Hands now in front of me, I sat back down.

"Was it that uncomfortable?" She asked, having watched me move my hands to the front of my body. I closed my eyes and nodded. She sighed and put her hand on her chin.

"I thought guarding a prisoner was supposed to be hard," she muttered, watching me. I couldn't do anything with her watching. Maybe I should wait until she used the restroom? We hadn't stopped all day, besides once, so she had to be dying to go. I had gone during that one time that we had stopped, but she hadn't. Laying down, I soundlessly yawned, trying to feign sleepiness. Closing my eyes, I slowed my breathing. The only things I saw were the chakra stick figures that illuminated throughout my head, telling me where the shinobi were.

The night progressed and it looked like the girl wouldn't use the bathroom. She had a bladder of steel; something I wished I had.

Finally, she got up. Casting one last glance at the camp, she retreated further into the woods. Not wasting a single second, I scrambled to my feet and ran in the other direction. If what she said was true, then she could find me quickly. We had traveled on a path during the day, so I wouldn't go there. I would find the nearest village and hide out.

I ran on pure muscle, flying through the forest. My weights had been removed, so I was a feather. The blackness of night was the only place for me to hide. Since they put chakra compressing cuffs on me, it had disabled me from using chakra, but it was still there. Tucking my chakra away, I concealed it quickly, knowing that if I didn't, the girl would be able to find me. Five minutes since I started running, I heard faint yells from the camp site. She had noticed I was gone.

I didn't know where I was going. I had been running for twenty minutes, but nobody had stopped me yet. So, she had been lying about being a sensory-nin. Smart, but say it to the wrong person, like me, and you're screwed. Controlling my breathing, I traveled through the trees. Since I couldn't use chakra to make my steps silent, I couldn't travel on the ground, where there was leaves, twigs, and grass.

I knew I couldn't stop running. Based on Kabuto's threat, I guessed they would comb the woods throughout the night, nonstop.

.

.

.

.

.

What time was it? 12:00? 1:00? 2:00? _Dare I say, 3:00?_ My legs were burning, but I didn't dare stop. If they caught me, they'd take me to that lab. I didn't know if it was a lab where they experimented on people, but I wasn't going to stick around long enough to find out.

It was a very cold night. The wind had picked up sometime ago and my exposed skin on my arms and legs had goosebumps. I wasn't used to the cold after living in Konoha for four years. Sure, the orphanage had its cold nights, but it wasn't compared to this. It was one of those times where it felt like it ought to be snowing, but it wasn't.

I had to keep going. Normally, I could run for ages, but the cold mixed with my unexpected speed made my life a living hell. I had to slow myself down because when I went fast, the wind only howled more and whipped my chilled skin. My muscles weren't warming me up and the howling wind was waiting for me to stop, waiting to show me how cold it could really be.

I knew those Sound-nin wouldn't stop until they found me. I wouldn't stop looking either; Kabuto was a psychopath. I bet he would kill one of them for entertainment, if he was bored enough. If Kabuto was that crazy, then I bet Orochimaru was a mental case. Why had he kidnapped me anyway? Before it happened, we had been talking about Taoism, birds, and...

He had kidnapped me because of the broken neck incident. Are you serious? What was he gonna do, extract my immortality? I almost laughed, but I didn't want to inhale any more cold air than I had to.

Even though I couldn't sense the Sound team's chakra, I knew they were probably still searching. Kabuto hadn't told them why he kidnapped me to them, had he? Thinking back to the brief conversation I had heard, I realized that he hadn't. That was good. They didn't know I couldn't die. Spotting a fallen tree with spiky, upturned roots, I made my way over to it. Stopping on a branch above the tree, I dropped down and landed on the rotting log. The moldy trunk sunk a little under my weight, but didn't make much sound.

Lifting my cuffed arms out in front of me, I memorized the smooth skin. I kept shaking from what I knew I had to do. Telling myself to do it fast, I looked away, knowing that I couldn't do it if I watched, and brought my unharmed arms down hard onto the pointy roots. I almost cried out, but I bit my tongue and forced my lips shut. This plan was fucked if I gave away my position. The roots were now embedded into my small, 12-year old arms and it hurt. It hurt real bad. Shaking from the cold and the pain, I yanked my arms out of the roots, avoiding looking at them. I felt the tips of the rotted roots digging into my arms from where they had broken off.

Now that that part was over, I calmed my breathing and made sure that my bodily chakra stayed shrouded. Grabbing the front of my green shirt, I tore it off me with whatever strength I had leftover, which wasn't much. Almost immediately, my back erupted in goosebumps when the wind pushed up against it. I was left in nothing but a sports bra and shorts. I was glad I still had my shoes and hitai-ate with me; they were protecting me a little.

Brushing my damaged and bloody arms on the now ripped green shirt, I made sure to coat it in blood before dropping it onto the spikes. Let them figure it out, if they found it. After coating the surrounding area with splashes of blood, and yanked out hair, I was fairly certain that it was a worthy crime scene, but something was missing... oh.

I took my blue hitai-ate off and tossed it a little bit away from the shirt, to make it look like a struggle had gone down. The wind dried the sweat that my forehead protecter had hid from it. I kicked dirt everywhere and determined that my job was finished. Bounding away, I searched for a suitable place to rest, whether it be a nest of roots or a perch in a tree or a damn house, I didn't care. I was very tired and very hungry.

I was very _alone_.

 ** _Back in Konoha_**

"Where is Ono Kabucha?" The caretaker asked all the children with a sharp, clear, punctuated voice. She was the only one on his list that wasn't here and it was delaying everyone's schedule. The children shook their heads, almost violently. Nobody wanted to get stuck with scrubbing toilets. The caretaker rubbed his chin, carefully feeling the clean shave, free of stubble that he had acquired this morning.

"This is... problematic," he stated, glaring at the quivering children. Tonight, everyone had been given a blanket because of the cold front that had come through from Iwagakure. All of the Elemental Nations were suffering from the chilling, violent, winds that howled, even Sunagakure.

Snatching his large, brown coat from a rack by the orphanage door, the caretaker left the oldest, being 15, in charge, promising he would be back momentarily.

Fighting the rather forceful winds, the caretaker protected the clipboard that had everyone's name on it, along with the unchecked box next to Ono Kabucha's name. The dark roads of Konoha would've scared the average person, but the caretaker was not average. He endures pranks, loud noises, and keeps 30 orphans in line on a regular basis. That's what his father did, and that's what he does now.

Finally making it to the Hokage's tower, the caretaker opened the door and yanked it shit, stopping the cold wind from entering. He knew it was a very busy week for everyone and the Final Exam for the Chuunin Exams were tomorrow, but a missing orphan was top priority for the caretaker. It was, after all, his job.

"Yes?" An ANBU asked, appearing suddenly in front of the caretaker. The caretaker wasn't fazed in the slightest; he endured far worse shocks when he dealt with orphans.

"I need to speak to the Hokage," he replied, looking into what he assumed were the ANBU's eyes. They all wore those stupid masks, to hide their identity or something. The caretaker, himself, thought it was a little overdramatic.

"The Hokage is busy." The caretaker wanted so badly to smack this ninja. He often did it when the orphans wouldn't listen, even though he didn't want to. It was the only way to keep them in line.

"An orphan is missing. Now I know that may not sound all that important to you, but this orphan participates in the Final Exam tomorrow. Do you understand?" The caretaker asked, careful not to raise his voice at a Konoha Elite. The ANBU simply nodded and told him to wait. After a moment, he was ushered in to the Hokage's office.

"What's this I hear of an orphan missing, Sukushka-san?" The Hokage voiced from his desk. By the looks of things, he had had a very long night, something the caretaker could relate to. There were dark circles under his eyes and the Hokage looked to be fighting fatigue or simply, fighting to keep his eyes open. This was one of the rare moments where the caretaker had seen him without his famous hat. He was tired.

"Yes," the caretaker said, not ever dazed by the Hokage's tired looking appearance, "Ono Kabucha didn't report back to the orphanage."

"So, she arrived after curfew?" The Hokage asked, glancing at the clipboard in front of him. The caretaker winced inwardly at the news he was about to give. Why hadn't the ANBU told him?

"She didn't arrive at all, Hokage-sama." The effect was immediate and sudden, almost jarring the caretaker, but the caretaker had dealt with Uzumaki Naruto for 11 years. Nothing could jar him.

The Hokage stood up, slamming the chair against the back wall and almost magically, the bags under his eyes disappeared. His half-lidded eyes had snapped open and his once quiet voice was loud and commanding.

"What do you mean, "she didn't arrive at all?" Yoshigo?! Are you telling me she's out there, in the cold winds that we haven't had for 6 years?!" The Hokage strained, almost yelling, pointing outside at the dark night. The wind howled outside the windows, wanting to be let in, but the glass held strong.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"ANBU, get in here!" The Hokage ordered, speaking loudly. The office was instantaneously filled with 7 ANBU officers, ready to serve the Hokage at a moment's notice.

"What is it, Hokage-sama?" The head ANBU, Rat, asked. The rest were looking at the caretaker calmly, as if trying to unsettle him. The caretaker had dealt with Uzumaki Naruto for 11 years. Nothing could jar him. The Hokage quickly looked through his files and withdrew a file.

"Find Ono Kabucha!" He commanded, opening the file. Grabbing the picture from Graduation Day, he held it up for the room to see. She was smiling a closed-mouth smile and was lazily giving a thumbs up. Her hat took up half the picture and her brown eyes were filled with the excitement at becoming a genin.

"Yes, Hokag-" they all started, but someone burst open the door.

"It's okay!" Kabucha yelled. Her hat was tilted from the wind and she was panting. "I'm here!"

"Wha- but... What?" The caretaker demanded, glaring at the very late orphan. Late orphans were not tolerated in his orphanage.

"I'm sorry! I was out late wondering around and I lost track of time!" She exclaimed, heaving over to breath. The ANBU in the room relaxed. They didn't have to search through the cold winds in the middle of the night.

"Kabucha, I'm glad you're safe," the Hokage proclaimed, giving her a hug. "Now get to bed! You have a big day ahead of you."

"Yes, sir!" She saluted and walked back to the orphanage with the caretaker chastising her about always being late.

Kabuto's shadow clone smirked when the caretaker looked away. He had taken the shield when he realized it was a dead giveaway that something was wrong. He had bought Orochimaru and him lots of time to experiment on the real Ono Kabucha. Konoha wouldn't be looking for her. When they'd be defending against an attack tomorrow, Kabucha would 'accidentally' get killed by an enemy-nin.

 _Nobody would be looking for her ever again._


	19. What the Hell?

**AN: Thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews! It means a lot! Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 19**

 _I stood in the arena for the Final Exams. Across from me and also in the center of the arena, stood Gaara. His red hair looked like fire with how much it was moving from the wind. On his back, was his hourglass shaped gourd, with black Suna markings on it. In his eyes, was a crazed look, one that I've only seen in movies. He was laughing maniacally loud. Why was he laughing?_

 _Before I knew it, I was wrapped up in his sand again, with only my freckled-face peeking out. He smirked an evil grin and closed his outstretched hand. Instead of pain, I felt nothing and the scene watered down to reveal Temou's shop._

 _"Temou?" I asked, looking at the shopkeeper behind the counter. My vision was blurry and my voice sounded tiny and far away._

 _"..."_

 _"Temou!" I yelled, worried at him being unresponsive. His mouth opened, but Kabuto's voice came out._

 _"You promised you'd be careful, Kabucha."_

 _That's right... I did promise, but..._

 _"Temou, you don-" I stopped, because no sound was coming out of my mouth. Oh no. It was just like back in the forest, where Kabuto kidnapped me. Wait, how did I get here? Why was my vision slowly fading to black?_

 _Before I knew what had happened, I was rushing towards the ground. Around me, were skyscrapers. I was very high up in the air, but I almost cried. I hadn't seen skyscrapers in so long. If this was a dream, I didn't want to wake up._

 _I watched as the ground got closer and closer, before finally, I hit it. The impact triggered a white skull symbol blurring my vision and I suddenly realized how cold it was._

" **How dare you show your face in my domain** ," a familiar voice said. Realizing it was behind me, I turned around and saw Death in all the blackness.

"I... I died?" I asked, voice oddly calm despite the question.

" **No!** " His voice boomed, reverberating throughout my head. I tried to cover my ears, but I still had the cuff links on.

"Then how am I...?"

" **You passed away in your sleep** ," he answered, voice not as loud as before. " **Stupid Outsider. You were asleep for four days. Since you did not eat anything, your stomach eventually ate itself. Your immune system tried to wake you up, to alert you, but you contracted a deadly disease from the roots and it wouldn't let you wake up**." The roots killed me? What a pathetic way to go out.

"What happens now?" I questioned, shuffling my feet on the black floor. Were we in my mind?

" **Your soul disgusts me. I am tired of looking at your ugly peaceful soul. I know of what world you come from and it is also disgustingly peaceful**." He paused. Did he want me to say something, maybe act offended?

"I-"

" **I am tired of sending your soul back to the Land of the Living, Outsider, but I will always refuse entry into my belly to you. You will never feel the everlasting peace of death.** " Why was he getting all poetic about this? Maybe he was one of those people that took their job passionately.

The transition from standing to laying down was shocking. Opening my weary eyes, I was greeted with trees everywhere. The first thing that registered in my mind, was an ache in my back. My legs uncurled from their cramped position and I sat up.

I had slept in a tangle of rounded roots that grew aboveground. The temporary shelter barely kept the wind out, but it gave me protection from being discovered. I slowly got up, careful not to move too much, but my stomach did not growl or give any sign that I was hungry. Had Death lied? Curling my hands to my chin, I checked my injuries, but I only saw bloody scabs where the roots had been. It still hurt, but not as much as before.

Stretching as much as I could, I rubbed my wrists. The cuffs hadn't moved from last night and there were little drops of blood leaking from them. I needed to get these off. I still only had a sports bra on, but the wind wasn't as cold, so it was okay. How long had I been out? Four days? Was that what Death had said? Surely Konoha would come looking for me.

My body was very thin, I discovered. Malnutrition was probably the cause. Bah. Who needed food when you couldn't die? Me, that's who. I still wanted to eat though.

With that thought in mind, I started walking in the opposite direction than I had come from. Within the first five minutes of my journey, I realized just how big of a help my hat had been. It had sheltered me from the sun's rays and kept me in constant shade. I missed it.

It was noon when I finally found signs of human life. Trudging out of the forest, I spotted a large field of corn adorning the land. Judging by how well the crop looked, I settled on assuming that this family wasn't a ninja one. Despite my current situation, I still went around the field of yellow. These people worked hard for the crops and I couldn't just come in and ruin it. I didn't dare try to eat a stalk of corn. Knowing I couldn't die, I didn't want to steal from innocent people trying to make a living.

Finally spotting a farmhouse with a barn off to the side in front of the field, I slowly walked to it even though I still had cuffs and a silencing seal somewhere on me. If these people didn't help me, I'd probably flip out because my injuries still hurt.

I knocked on the front door three times.

 _Nana's P.O.V._

Despite being almost 70, I still heard the knocks on the front door. Getting up from where I had been helping my young nephew with reading, I opened the door to a strange sight.

In front of me stood a girl a few inches shorter than me. She had short, greasy, spiky, brown hair that went down to her shoulders and tired brown eyes. Her face was worn down, with dirt and specks of blood everywhere. She only had a black bra on, though I doubt she needed it with how old she looked. Her pants were green and her shoes were close-toed and black. The strangest thing about her, were the thick, silver-looking cuffs that bound her hands together.

Assuming she had escaped somewhere, I ushered her in, no questions asked. A thin child needed food.

"Come with me. I'll get you a shirt," I said, not wanting my nephew to see the awful sight of this poor girl.

"Who is it, Nana?" My nephew asked from the kitchen. The girl didn't even acknowledge him and for that, I was grateful.

"I'll tell you later, Tobi. Stay and finish the book!" Leading her by her arm, I opened the door to my room. The simple, brown bed stood in the center of it and next to it, was a brown dresser. Pulling open the dresser, I pulled out a random, blue shirt. Feeling a tap on my shoulder, I turned around and was met with the sight of a note in the girl's hand. Exchanging the shirt for the note, I gave her a small smile, which was hesitantly returned. It had been a while since I had seen a child, despite my nephew living with me.

Thank you, ma'am. My name is Kabucha and I can't talk, but I wanted to show my thanks.

Looking up from the note, I saw she had put the slightly large, blue shirt on, but her hands weren't in the holes of the shirt because of the cuffs. They rested on her bare stomach under the shirt.

"Oh, how nice of you," I replied in a raspy voice I hated. "Would you like to get those cuffs off?" She nodded and smiled again.

"Tobi, come here!" I ordered.

 _Kabucha's P.O.V._

The weak chakra signature of 'Tobi,' walked down the hall and I caught sight of who he was when he entered the room. He looked a couple years younger than me and had blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Who's this?" He asked, staring at me.

"Kabucha-chan," the old lady replied. "Go to the barn with her and get those awful things off her wrists. She can't talk, so don't ask questions. Kabucha-chan, this is my nephew, Tobi." I nodded with a smile. With an exasperated sigh, Tobi waved at me to follow him and I did, leaving the old lady behind in her room.

We walked to the barn I had seen earlier in silence. It was broken when Tobi spoke, though.

"Who put those on you?" Tobi asked, looking up at me. He was a foot shorter than me. I couldn't respond, so I shrugged.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized, not sounding like he cared. "Man, Nana always does this. She'll help people without thinking." I stared at the barn that was slowly moving closer with each step we took. It was a good 100 feet away from the house.

At the barn, Tobi jammed a nail in the keyhole of the cuffs and hammered it in. The cuffs released and I immediately rubbed my raw, itchy wrists. Tobi watched in silence before sitting down on a stool. Putting my arms through the armholes of the shirt that the old lady had given me, I sighed in relief, feeling my chakra flood through me before compressing it again. I couldn't take any chances with that Sound team.

I still had a silencing seal somewhere on me, though. Since I wasn't a seal master, I would have to wait until I could find one.

"Are you a ninja?" Tobi asked from the stool next to the workbench. I stopped rubbing my bloody wrists and stared at him. Realizing his mistake, Tobi looked down.

"Sorry, it's just... Nana told me stories about ninja and how they protected us. I've never seen one though," he ended, scorn in his voice. I blinked. Was being a ninja considered cool in this world, to citizens? I walked over to where the blue eyed boy was sitting and put my hands on my knees, crouching so that we were at the same level. When he looked up, I nodded with a faint smile. Everyone had their idols and I couldn't change that.

Tobi's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"That's awesome! So you protect people?!" He exclaimed with wide baby blues. I nodded again and would've chuckled if I could've.

"You said you were Kabucha, right?" Nod. "That's awesome. Can I tell Nana?" My faint smile disappeared. She wasn't as naive as this little boy, so she would probably alert someone if I was a ninja. I shook my head.

"So it's like a secret?" I nodded at the child and put a finger to my lips, telling him to be quiet. He nodded excitedly and led me back inside the house.

"You look much better, Kabucha-chan," Nana said, emerging from the kitchen in an apron. "Do you remember the way to my room?" She asked. I nodded. "I've laid out some clothes on the toilet of my bathroom, so you can take a shower. Leave your things by the door and I'll wash them." Nodding, I headed to her room while Tobi entered the kitchen, eager to help Nana cook.

This was weird. Why was Nana being so nice to me? I guess if you lived on a farm, you didn't get lots of visitors. By the by, where was I? Was I still in the Land of Fire? Whatever.

I locked the door to Nana's bathroom and stripped down, leaving my old clothes outside the bathroom door. I then took a quick shower, which would've been peaceful if I didn't hear the crinkling of paper. Ripping something off my back, it felt like a weight has been lifted from my lips. The silencing seal. I crumbled it up in a ball and threw it over the shower and into the trash can.

The dirt and blood washed off the minute the water hit my skin. When I put my bloody scabs under the hot water, I almost cried, but held my tongue. I didn't want to worry Nana any more than I had to.

What would I do after this? However painful it was, I had realized that Konohagakure was probably not looking for me. After all, four days was an awful lot of time; if they were searching for me, they would've found me by now. I had read that the Inuzuka clan was very good at tracking and hunting, as was the Aburame clan, yet where were they? I knew that the Chuunin Exams were over, but what had happened? Had everyone forgotten that I existed? I thought that someone would've found my hat in the training grounds by now, but I guess not.

Should I go back to Konoha at all? What other possibilities were there? Orochimaru was one; since he wanted to capture me, what would happen if I went willingly? Would he train me? I wanted power after all. Maybe I could go to another village, though I don't know which one yet. Konoha had forgotten me, so I didn't know what would happen if I returned. I'd probably be interrogated and put on trial. After all, who would trust an orphan? There was Naruto, who was also an orphan, but for some reason, it seemed as if the whole village revolved around him. Call me crazy, but I've always had a funky feeling about him, despite us being friends.

Along with that, there was the Nara and Yamanaka clans to worry about. They both excelled at information gathering, so I could count on seeing them during the interrogation if I returned.

Something had to have happened during the Chuunin Exams for this to happen; for me to be forgotten. I thought the Hokage and I were at least friends and for that, where the hell was an ANBU squad? Maybe he had forgotten me because of his age.

I turned the shower off after washing up. Giving myself a quick rundown with a towel, I put on the clothes stacked on the toilet. They surprisingly fit, though I don't know how. I hung up the towel and left the bathroom as I had found it. Before I left, I thought things over a bit more.

I could act like I had escaped from somewhere and had been in shock, so I couldn't speak. Exiting the bathroom, I made sure to turn off the light behind me. Making my way to the kitchen, I smelt something cooking.

"I bet you feel better, Kabucha-chan," Nana commented. She and Tobi were sitting at the table, waiting for me? I opened my mouth and hesitated, trying to sell the act.

"I-I... T-thank you," I replied, speaking in Hinata's terms, sitting down at the small table meant for four people.

"You can speak?" She asked, eyes crinkling.

"'Course she can, Nana. She was probably in shock 'r something," Tobi added, giving me a wink. I grinned back at the blond.

"Well, sit down, child! You're very thin, c'mon, eat up!" Nana ordered, smiling an old person smile. I quickly sat by Tobi and we dug in. Nana had cooked green beans, three pieces of corn, and 6 slices of ham. We all had milk to drink. Nana told me about her neighbors and how they all trades fresh ingredients to eat.

Maybe staying here wouldn't be so bad. What about Temou, though? What about my team? What about Anko and Asuma? I was dying to know what had happened to have them forget about me. The word, 'forget' brought on a small, but deadly thought.

I had been forgotten.

The one thing I feared the most had been fulfilled. Even Shino didn't have this much bad luck. I tried to remember if I had swallowed bubblegum, shattered a mirror, or walked under a ladder during this life, but nothing came up. How did I have bad luck?

Tobi had dragged me outside to the barn after dinner; for what reason, I didn't know. Maybe he wanted to play a game?

"I want you to teach me to be a ninja." Whoa! Not what I was expecting.

"I'm the last person you wa-"

"I covered you!" He interrupted, loudly. "I covered you at dinner! You owe m-"

"Alright! Shh!" When he quieted down, I inwardly sighed. "I'll teach you, but I'm warning you: I'm a genin." He tilted his head, confusion showing on his face.

"What's a genin? Nana only told me about regular ninja." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"There is an order of beginner to expert ninja. Genin, Chuunin, Jounin, Special Jounin, and ANBU. What country are we in?" I asked, suddenly.

"Land of Fire, why?"

"Just wondering," I said, waving him off.

"Whatever," he replied. "What am I learning first?!" This kid was freaking excited.

"Do you know what chakra is?"

"Huh?" Great.

"It's the energy inside us. It's all around us, too," I explained. He scratched his head and slowly nodded, though I'm not sure if he actually understood any of it.

"Listen, why do you want to be a ninja anyway?" I asked. "Why not an inventor or a farmer or something? I bet your Nana would be thrilled if you became a farmer!"

"You don't understand," he said quietly. Whoa, where did this come from? What happened to Tobi? "My parents were killed in a raid on our old ranch. I... Nevermind."

"What? What do you mean, 'nevermind?'" I replied, pressing him for details. This was a juicy story; it couldn't end now!

"You'll think it's stupid..."

"No! I won't think it's stupid." He hesitantly sighed and looked at me in the eyes.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"I want to be a ninja... because I wanna get the people that killed my parents and protect Nana." Now I see why he had me promise; I almost burst out laughing.

"What?!" He demanded, seeing me trying to hide a smile. It took me a couple of seconds to compose myself.

"Nothing! Nothing... It's just, you sound like someone I was told about." Sasuke. Naruto had imitated him a lot and made fun of him. He had even told me Sasuke's goal: to kill a certain man.

"Really? Who?" Tobi asked. I snorted again. As if he would know...

"Uchiha Sasuke." To my surprise, Tobi leaped up from his stool and jumped around, like some sort of possessed monkey.

"I know him! I know him!"

"How?!" I demanded. He pulled out a bingo book from seemingly no where.

"He defected from Konoha a few days after the Chuunin Exams. Don't you own a bingo book?" He asked. My question was: where the hell did Tobi get a bingo book and how did he materialize it out of thin air?

"I haven't gotten a chance to look at one recently. Where the hell did you get a bingo book?"

"Swear! Anyway, our neighbor is a retired shinobi from the Leaf Village and he gets a bingo book every week. After he gets finished with them, he gives them to me."

"Can I look at it?" Tobi shrugged and handed the book over. Flipping to the Sasuke's page, I scanned it.

 **Uchiha Sasuke**

 **Village(s) CIWB: Konohagakure**

 **Rank: Genin**

 **Date Defected: April 13, 743/ 2 days after 2nd Chuunin Exams held in Konohagakure**

 **Bounty: 500,000 ryo-Alive 300,000-Dead**

 **Last Seen: Konohagakure**

 **Warning: Capture on Sight**

 **Note: Last known survivor of Uchiha clan next to Uchiha Itachi(see page 56)/ Has unlocked Sharingan/ Do not look into his eyes**

"What's CIWB?" I asked, looking at Tobi.

"Villages Convict is Wanted By," he replied, looking at me with an are-you-kidding-me expression.

Before I gave it back to Tobi, I flipped through the book to see if my name was in it.

 **Ono Kabucha**

 **Village(s) CIWB: Otogakure, Konohagakure**

 **Rank: Genin**

 **Date Defected: April 11, 743/ 1 day before 2nd Chuunin Exams held in Konohagakure**

 **Bounty: 500,000 ryo-Alive 200,000 ryo-Dead**

 **Last Seen: Konohagakure**

 **Warning: Capture on Sight**

 **Note: Rumored to be immortal through rumors of surviving a broken neck and a kunai to the brain/ Wears metallic shield on her head at all times**

"You look kind of like Ono Kabucha. But I know you're not her because she wears a shield on her head at all times. Plus, missing-nin are evil and you're not evil," Tobi stated, swiveling in the chair. My mind was reeling. Did they not realize that I was kidnapped? Why the hell did Sasuke defect? Did he do it on purpose? When did I get stabbed in the head by a kunai?

What the hell?


	20. Heavenly Peace

**AN: Sorry for the late chapter! Thank you for the review,** **SecretlyADayDreamer. Thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 20**

"So where're you gonna train me?" Tobi asked. After dinner, we had gone to his room. Nana had already told me where the guest bedroom was, but Tobi and I needed to work out some details about this training thing. He was sitting on his bed and I was sitting in a chair in the corner.

"Um..." I didn't want to get captured so early on, so probably not outside. "The barn." Chances are, ANBU or a team of jounin would come the minute they caught wind that a missing-nin was hiding out on a farm.

"Aw, what?" He exclaimed. "Why the barn? Why not outside?"

"Real shinobi don't care where they train. They deal with it and use what they're given," I said, throwing a cheap shot at the blonde. In response, he threw his hands in the air and collapsed on his corn-patterned pillow.

"Re... -obi... -uck," he mumbled through the pillow.

"What was that?" He emerged from the pillow, grinning.

"Nothing."

"We won't be needing the barn anyway." He still had to learn handsigns and get conditioned for taijutsu. I personally believed that if you didn't know taijutsu, then you were as good as dead. Maybe later on, I would tell him what being a ninja was all about.

"Why not?" He asked, scratching his head.

"You need to get conditioned and memorize the handsigns before I even consider teaching you a Jutsu."

"...handsigns?" He said, scrunching his nose. "What're those? And why do I need them?"

"Every Jutsu ever made is activated by making your chakra flow through handsigns. Sometimes, if you get good enough at a Jutsu, you don't have to use 'em," I explained with a yawn. It was around 11 and Tobi was wearing-in my opinion-adorable pajamas. They were black with a cute, little cow pattern. It was only natural that Tobi hated them, but Nana forced him to wear them, saying that she wasn't going to buy anymore than she had to.

"That's awesome," he replied, not as excited. I guess he was tired or something; in my old life when I tried to pull all-nighters, I could only make it to 4:00am before I fell asleep. "Can you *yawn* ...do a Jutsu without handsigns?" Without saying anything, my chakra flowed and Tobi was looking at himself.

"Yeah." His eyes widened and he leaned towards me.

"How'd you do that? I mean, it's obviously a Jutsu but what? I mean, how?" He questioned, shooting one after another. I released the transformation in a puff of smoke that disappeared after a moment.

"It's called uh..." I kept forgetting the stupid, Japanese names for the Jutsus, "Oh! Henge no Jutsu." The little blonde yawned, not at all impressed with my remembering skills. Neither was I.

"That's neat. What're we doing tomorrow?" We both yawned again. Looking through his collection of cow drawings that adorned the wall next to his bed, I lazily thought up a training schedule that the 8-year old civilian boy could follow. I wonder if he knew how big the farm was?

"How big is the corn field?" Honestly, I didn't expect him to answer because when I had come in this morning, he was working on reading-something I had learned at 6-years old in the old world.

"300 by 400 feet. Why?" I turned my gaze on the tired boy, half-shocked, half-not. In this world, who knew what could happen?

"Wha-? How'd you know that?" He stared back at me for a minute before he realized something.

"Oh! Since Nana's too old to harvest the crops, it's my responsibility to do it. I have to know how large the field in order to get everything cut before the cold sets in." Oh... that explained the callouses on both his hands. Also, the cold...? Wasn't it cold last night?

"You're talking about... snow," I stated, though it sounded more like a question. His eyebrows furrowed and his mouth opened, giving me an are-you-stupid look.

"What else? The corn can survive wind, duh." I almost pounded him, but stopped myself. This wasn't Shikamaru, this was Tobi, but both were smartasses. Well... it was a stupid question, but in the old world, corn could easily be cut down by wind, if it was cold enough.

"So... the training plan," I started. He perked up and slapped a serious look on his face-though he didn't look very serious in those cow pajamas. "We're gonna wake up tomorrow and ru-"

"What time?" He interrupted. Rolling my eyes, I caught site of a ceiling fan with little corn decorations dangling from one of the two metal strings on it.

"8:00am, why? Is it interfering with your farm life?" I asked, sarcastically. He sighed and looked down, though I didn't know if it was to avoid me seeing him roll his eyes or not.

"No... continue," he muttered, observing his feet with great interest. Coughing, I did just that.

"At 8:00am tomorrow, we'll wake up and take a couple of laps around the field." Before he could interrupt me again,-I could tell he was going to, because he had opened his mouth-I held up a hand.

"You aren't going to be learning how to do Jutsu for quite some time. It took me a year to memorize the handsigns and three more to learn how to mould my chakra. For the next month, the only thing I'll help you with is taijutsu, reading, and handsigns." I paused to let him soak it all in.

"So, I'm gonna run and stuff?" He stated after a while, not looking very thrilled at the idea of running.

"Ever run before?" I inquired. If he made that face at running, then he had to have run a long distance before.

"Yeah... I've got to run to Rosenglade sometimes to beat a storm. I've usually got a big bundle of crops on my back, so it sucks... and, I have to run back home, ya know... to not get caught outside late at night." Smart, but why didn't he just get up in the morning?

"How far away is Rosenglade?" I wondered aloud. It must be a minor village, because it sure as hell wasn't a hidden village.

"2 'n a half miles. I'm tired," he added, rubbing his eyes. I could work with this.

"I know, but real quick: how often do you run to Rosenglade?" I queried.

"Every time the crops are done, I have to run there and back around 12 or 13 times to sell them all, but I run there twice a day because I can't run anymore than that. So it takes about a week to get most of the harvest to the village." He rubbed his eyes again and yawned.

"Alright, I can see you're tired. I'll let you sleep, but I'll be here at 8 to wake you up and when I wake you up, you better get up. Got it?" I stated, standing up and opening the blue door that led in and out of his room. Looking back at him, I saw he had pulled up the covers and was lying down. Catching a small nod from the blonde, I closed the door without another word.

Since Nana was already in bed too, I walked through the house and observed what kind of place Tobi lived in. In the halls where our rooms were, the floor was oak wood and the tan walls were smooth. I could never figure out what material the walls were made of though. Tobi's room and a bathroom were on the left, and Nana's room and the guest room were on the right. In between the two doors on the left, was a picture of a red barn and a yellow field of corn, with luscious, green hills overflowing one another behind the barn. There was no picture on the right side of the hall.

I passed Nana's door to get to the other parts of the house and paused. At dinner, she had seen my bloody scabs-despite her terrible eyesight- and bandaged them. I wasn't one of those people that went, "Oh no, you don't have to. Really." That was kinda stupid, in my opinion. Why turn down something being offered?

Beyond the hall, was the kitchen. The entire house had the same walls and flooring: smooth walls and oak wood. There was nothing in the kitchen but utensils, plates, and two pictures. One of the pictures was Nana and Tobi standing next to each other in front of the cornfield. Nana had a genuine smile, while it looked like Tobi had been forced to smile. Tobi's hair was a little shorter in the picture and Nana had slightly fewer wrinkles.

The living room was composed of a dull red couch that seated three people and two incredibly boring, green chairs. A lamp stood lonely in a corner.

And... that was the whole house. I get that farm houses didn't need to be big, but wow. This house was small. Looking out the windows in the kitchen, I saw the yellow fields via moonlight. The shadows swayed with their corresponding casters and only a few movements weren't monotonous.

As I was leaving the kitchen, I heard a lone howl. Were there wolves? Not in this heat. The thing sounded like it was at the end of the cornfield, away from the house. After the howl had died down, I heard yipping and barks of what sounded like laughter closer, almost in the middle of the cornfield.

Even though there was glass separating me from the things, they were still loud. It wasn't until more yips and another howl, did I realize what they were.

Coyotes. I recognized the sounds from my days in Austin, Texas, where the coyotes behind the fence in the backyard yipped all night. They only howled when they caught something. Nana had been careful to lock all the doors and windows in the house before she went to bed; she even went as far as to close the curtains on all the windows that had them. Now, I realized why. Tobi and Nana hadn't said anything about coyotes, so maybe this was a nightly occurrence? No nightly training sessions for Tobi and I, though I wasn't planning on it anyway.

I slunk back to the guest room and crawled in the bed-wearing blue pajamas that Nana had lent me. The coyotes couldn't enter the house, so I had no reason to worry. After all, I could summon Yuki and Gimá, so I wasn't totally helpless. Plus, I was a kunoichi; I could fight off a pack of wild mutts.

Instead of going to sleep, I lied awake in the green bed and listened to the coyotes yipping and laughing at something. Their laughter could be heard throughout the house, a strong and undying sound. If I didn't know what a coyote was, I would've mistaken them for a pack of hyenas. Now, that would be a cool summon.

My thoughts drifted through the night. Was Sasuke forgotten, too? Was he wondering why nobody had come after him? Was he wondering if I was wondering the same thing? Where were my parents right now? Had they gotten over my disappearance? I bet my duds of friends in the old world didn't even miss me.

"Don't be negative," I whispered to myself. Wait, this was one of the few times where I could talk in English. _Sing_ in English.

"Christmas time is here. Happiness and cheer... Fun for all, the..." I stopped singing because I had forgotten the words. I had seen the Charlie Brown Christmas Special three times, so I didn't know the lyrics to that song where they sang around the little tree.

"Sleigh bells ring... Are ya listenin'? In the lane, snow is glistenin.' A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walkin' in a winter wonderland..." I forgot the lyrics to that, too. I only bothered to add the song to my playlist, because of the time I heard it on Polar Express. Feliz Navidad was an easy one because of Spanish class.

I sang Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer like a champ, despite my other failed Christmas songs. Jingle Bells wasn't one of my favorites, so I didn't even speak of that one. Hmm... What other songs were the-?

"Oh, Merry Christmas... Well, way up north, where the air gets cold... It's the Little Saint Nick!" I sang, softly. I knew he lyrics to this one and I knew about it because I was one of the few people back in high school that still loved The Beach Boys. After that one, I sang Somebody To Love by Queen-I always tried to sing all the parts of the song.

"Me voy. Qué lastima pero adi-" I paused halfway through Me Voy by Julieta Venegas. Maybe I should start doing impressions? If Nana or Tobi walked in on me, they'd think I was insane, talking to myself.

"Shane, don't let go," I whispered to myself softly, imitating Mulan from Mulan 2... I think. My hands were holding onto one another, acting like Shane and Mulan's hands when they were both hanging by one rope over the big drop. Mulan was holding onto the rope with one hand and Shane's with the other and it was raining. The logical side of my brain told me to stop acting crazy, but my stupid side told me to finished the "scene."

"Mulan, the rope won't hold both of us," I gruffly whispered to no one, playing the part of Shane. My left hand started to let go, but he right hand held on tightly.

"Shane, no!" I whisper-yelled, being Mulan again. Really selling my part as Shane, I looked sadly at the far wall, as if I was in Shane's position.

"I'm sorry, Mulan." The left hand let go completely and both hands relaxed on the bed.

"No! Shane!" I whisper-yelled, knowing full and well that I did not have to say that. The stupid side of my brain was the funnier side of my brain, after all. I wasn't being completely random, though. Me and my friend had played out the same part on a slide in the park.

"I need some fuckin' friends," I whispered to myself, deeply ashamed in the reenactment of Shane's "death." That was for little kids... right? Why was I doubting myself? Was I finally going crazy? No! I was just bored... that's all. I sighed in the darkness of my room.

I was just making excuses. I was aware that my mind wanted to wander and I was aware when it did wander. It took willpower to make myself focus back home-ADHD- when I didn't take my medicine, but here... here, I could focus. I didn't have any conditions and I loved it. But that meant that it was my choice to let my mind wander and sometimes, it happened when I was bored. Was being ADHD all that different than being normal? Maybe I did have ADHD... Yep. I kept thinking everyone was against me, but wasn't that the mentality you're supposed to have in this world? Was ADHD able to be diagnosed in this world?

Why did I want to cry? Homesickness? Christmas songs? ADHD? Being normal? What was the reason? Were they all the reasons? I needed to stop asking questions, but I didn't want to. Maybe I was PMSing, whatever that meant. Mom had said it happened with puberty, so I had just accepted it. I couldn't make excuses when I didn't even know what they were, so PMSing was out.

Now that I was really thinking, I started thinking of things that I had said. Had I hurt Ino's feelings when I said that red wasn't her color? No! Stop! I couldn't stray down that path; the apologetic one. I had done it during high school and I only ended up getting stepped on because of it.

...but it was the right thing to do. The right thing to do... Should I return to Kono- No! Why had I even thought of that? Stupid.

Stupid. Did everyone think I was stupid? That was a thought I could quickly get rid of. I knew I was smart; that was one thing I was sure of in this life. I couldn't get mentally unstable; it'd get me killed... nevermind. As much as I wanted to return to America, where I could freely worry about my mental state, I knew that I couldn't afford to think about my emotional state here.

I tried to bottle up my overwhelming thoughts, tried to build a wall, but my morals crushed it immediately. The right thing to do, respect others, turn the other cheek, don't be violent, be friendly to everyone, think of what you're going to say before you say it, put yourself in someone else's shoes before you do anything, put others before yourself, get enough sleep, don't burn bridges, respect your elders, don't be mean, be social, include everyone, always wear a smile; no one likes someone who frowns all the time, smile at others, compliment people.

All the thoughts, all the expectations, all the mistakes I had made; everything came crashing down. Without my permission, tears leaked out of my eyes. Why the hell was I crying? I didn't want to stop, though. I wanted to cry and cry and cry all night.

 _Stop. Calm down._

Taking big breathes, I slowly stopped the tears. It was ADHD, a disease of the mind. It had traveled to the new world with me and only now, was it beginning to affect me. I wiped my cheeks on the covers and snuggled up in a very unkunoichi-like way. Turning away from the wall that the bed was pressed up against, I started to sing Silent Night very softly, almost a whisper. The words that I didn't know, I hummed.

"Sleep... In heavenly peace... Sleep in heavenly peace..." I quietly sang, finishing the song. Closing my eyes, I slowly sang it again, feeling my thoughts come to a halt for a single song that I had learned from the Christmas service at Church.

I was in Church. Everyone was holding a cheap, yellow candle with a piece of of paper at the bottom to prevent the wax from dripping on us. Looking down, I saw I was in a simple green dress with a brown belt across my midsection and white stockings with black boots on. My long brown hair was up in a bun. I was 6'1. This wasn't possible. This was a year before I woke up in the new world.

"Teagen, sing the next song with us," Mom said. Looking to my right, I saw my mother with the same greying brown hair and brown eyes that I remembered. She was wearing a purple dress similar to mine, minus the belt and had on brown clogs. Next to her, Dad smiled at me, trying to get me to agree with my mother. He was wearing a black suit with a red and green striped tie. He also had greying brown hair, but had blue eyes with a mole in his left eye.

Instead of replying, my face scrunched up in a way my mother disapproved of, (You'll get wrinkles!) but I couldn't stop myself. When the familiar first notes of Silent Night started to play, my nose started itching and I burst into sobs. My mom grabbed my shoulder and squeezed it in the same way that I had done to Shino.

As the lyrics appeared on the two screens in the auditorium, my tears flowed heavily and emotions ran through me. Instead of saying anything, Mom and Dad sang the song, not looking at the screen; they knew it by heart. Sobs racked my tall frame and the salt water sprinkled onto my dress from where it had flowed freely down my face. Without looking up, I joined my parents in singing, my voice cracking each time I sobbed.

 _Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright_

 _Round yon virgin Mother and Child, holy_

 _Infant so tender and mild,_

 _Sleep in heavenly peace,_

 _Sleep in heavenly peace._

 _Silent night, holy night, shepherds quake at the sight,_

 _Glories stream from heaven afar, heavenly hosts sing_

 _Alleluia._

 _Christ the Saviour is born,_

 _Christ the Saviour is born._

 _Silent night, holy night,_

 _Son of God, love's pure light,_

 _Radiant beams from_

 _Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace,_

 _Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth,_

 _Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth._

 _Silent night, holy night, wondrous star, lend thy light;_

 _With the angels let us sing,_

 _Alleluia to our King._

 _Christ the Saviour is born,_

 _Christ the Saviour is born._

 _Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright_

 _Round yon virgin Mother and Child, holy_

 _Infant so tender and mild,_

 _Sleep in heavenly peace,_

 _Sleep in heavenly peace._

Halfway through the song, everyone lit everyone's else's candle. I was barely able to light my mothers candle; my hands were shaking too much. With how much I was crying, I was surprised I hadn't put it out.

"Teagen, stop crying. You'll get wrinkles," Mom whispered from besides me. Her arm was still around my figure and she held her candle with the other hand. What she had said... Mom.

A cry of pain and anguish escaped me, followed by more. Dropping the candle, I turned to embrace my mother. She seemed shocked, but she returned the hug. Without wasting a moment, I added Dad to the hug; he returned it too. Cries of sadness and loss echoed throughout the Church, but everyone sung Silent Night again. My tears stained my father's suit and my mother's dress, but they didn't say anything about it.

"I miss you!" I yelled, voice cracking. "I miss you so... so, so much." My sobs got heavier and started hurting me more. My chest was compressed and felt tight. Face wet with tears, I buried it into my mother's shoulder.

" _We love you, Teagen._ " Their voices seemed miles away, but I memorized every sound of their familiar voices and engraved it into my head. I didn't know I would ever miss my parents this much.

"Please! Please... _come back_ ," I coughed, out of tears, but full of anguish. "I love... you, too." Around us, everyone seemed to have drifted out of the picture, but the song kept going.

 _Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright_

 _..._

 _Sleep in heavenly peace,_

 _Sleep in heavenly peace._


	21. Back in Konoha

**AN: Thank you so much for the positive reviews! Thanks for the favorites and follows as well! Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 21**

 _Danzo's P.O.V._

I settled into my chair in my office in my underground headquarters for my organization, Root. My soldiers were either on missions or training here, in the underground.

Opening the newest edition of Konohagakure's bingo book, I scanned through it, wondering if any targets were weak enough for Root. Of course, I had faith in my own organization, but taking targets like Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame, and Deidara would only draw attention to the fact that I hadn't followed the Hokage's order and disbanded Root. It didn't matter now, for the Hokage was dead, but I wasn't sure if Tsunade, the new Hokage knew about it.

Flipping pages, I stopped on Uchiha Sasuke's. Being one of the last Uchiha, it would be suspicious if my subordinates captured him, so I wouldn't be in possession of the Sharingan. Making a mental note to make plans regarding the Sharingan, I flipped the page.

... Hmm?

A missing-nin from Konoha? And she was a genin? How... curious. I don't remember acquiring a new soldier as of late. Did she leave, like Sasuke? Was she kidnapped by another group? I read Ono Kabucha's page and wondered why there was such a high bounty on her. It wasn't until I got to the note section, did I realize why she was wanted so badly.

She was immortal... or "rumored" to be anyway. Rumors or not, I wanted an immortal for Root. We would be unstoppable with someone who couldn't die. I had heard of rumors about another immortal, but after further investigation, I had realized he was with a cult and that would only tarnish Root's reputation. He would probably give us away with his rituals or whatever people in cults did.

But Ono Kabucha... She was an orphan. Nobody remembered orphans.

"Sai!" I called. Not a moment later, Sai, my most loyal member, appeared in front of my desk. I hadn't seen him use the door, but I knew there were jutsus that ruled doors obsolete. Sai had short, black hair that was pulled back by a hitai-ate on his forehead. His skin was pale and he wore black clothing.

"Danzo-sama," he said, bowing. I had trained him so well. Too bad he had killed his brother or I would've had two of him. Oh well, I couldn't break Root traditions for just one member.

"Have you studied the latest issue of the bingo book?" He stood up and nodded, careful not to speak out of turn. That's something else he had learned while I was training him.

"I want you to track down Ono Kabucha. Bring her back alive," I stressed, making sure the pale boy understood how important it was.

"With all due respect, Danzo-sama, what if she's dead before I get to her or someone else has captured her?" Sai asked, carefully wording his concern.

"Did you lie when you said that you've read the latest addition of the bingo book?" Sai's eyes widened, but he quickly shed the brief emotion. I would have to work on that; he wasn't supposed to have any emotions.

"Of course not, Dan-"

"Did you not realize that she could possibly be immortal, fool?" I spat, standing up from my desk and slapping the desktop with both hands. Sai didn't do anything, like he was supposed to.

"I apologize, Danzo-sama. Is there a timeframe?" Smirking, I smoothed out my wrinkled outfit. This was too easy.

"She's a genin, Sai. I expect you to be quick, or there will be consequences. As usual, don't let anyone see you," I ended, dismissing him with my hand. With that, he disappeared in a flash.

Nobody remembers orphans.

 _Tsunade's P.O.V._

With a sigh, I rubbed my achy head. Without my orders, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Naruto, and Neji had gone on a self-employed mission to retrieve that Uchiha brat. Kakashi had left the office after telling me what had happened. There was just too much going on.

"Where's my damn sake?" I muttered, glancing unhappily at the ever-growing stack of papers on my desk. As expected, being the Hokage was difficult. I had to run a damn village. Why the hell was the door opening? I didn't need anymore shit to deal with right now.

"What?!" I snapped at Asuma. I knew he wouldn't get angry; I'd just kill him with my strength.

"It's about the other missing-nin, Ono Kabucha," he replied, shutting the door and sitting across from me. Right to the point.

"What about her?" I had read her file, briefly, and nothing looked important to attend to right now. We were in the middle of rebuilding, damnit!

"Okay. I know her file probably says that she's mentally stable, but from her sensei's point of view, I want to tell you that she's a genius."

"Shikamaru genius or Itachi genius?" I questioned.

"I..." He stuttered. The great Sarutobi Asuma stuttered. "I'm not sure."

"What do you mean, "you're not sure?" I snapped, headache still pounding. I didn't have time for this bullshit, damnit but I was the Hokage and I had to deal with it. Ugh.

"When I first met her, she seemed average and normal. With Shikamaru and Shikaku, they didn't report any signs of above average intelligence from the girl. But... the way she fights. She doesn't talk, unlike most kids her age. She doesn't reveal any strengths or weaknesses of hers. She doesn't even reply to opponents."

"So? Why the hell's that so special? That happened with Orochi... Oh." I realized the problem.

"I don't have a lot of evidence to confirm it, but I have reason to believe that she's Orochimaru genius."

"Didn't she go missing before the Final Exam in the Chuunin Exams?" I asked.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama. No search and rescue party was sent out because of the bad timing. According to one ANBU, she had revealed that she was still in the village but I couldn't sense her chakra. With the help of the Hyuuga, we confirmed that she was nowhere near the village. The visit to the Third went against our findings though, and he ordered us not to worry."

"Damnit. Do you think she was smart enough to stage this?" I asked, wanting his opinion on this. He was, after all, her sensei.

"No signs of wanting to defect from the village were reported, Hokage-sama. I didn't even think this would happen until it did," Asuma answered, looking down. Something still bothered me though.

"How come nobody went to go find her? Why did they choose the Uchiha brat over her?" I replied, wondering what made the Uchiha so special.

"She vanished from the invasion, but she still fought enemies, so we concluded that she had used a shadow clone to distract us." He paused in thought.

"I hope you're not assuming she was involved with the invasion," I hoped. I hadn't even met the brat, but judging from Asuma's worried face, I could tell that he cared for her.

"It's very likely. The only other option is that she chose to defect at the worst time."

"Are you saying there are better times to defect from your village, Sarutobi?" I snorted.

"No! Of course not! I'm just saying that maybe it was bad timing on her part," he reworded, rubbing his beard.

"Well... I can't afford to send anyone out right now, Asuma. I'm... I'm sorry," I replied, hesitantly. I wanted to go get the girl too, but I needed all the shinobi to help rebuild.

"Before I go, I wanted to tell you that she's rumored to be immortal," Asuma said, getting up and opening the door. His eyes looked sad and his body language told me he was tired.

"I read the file," I replied, quietly. He walked out the door without another word spoken. As he left, Shizune walked in with my lunch and a large bottle of sake.

"'Bout time," I stated, voice switching from caring to bossy, and snatched the sake from the black-haired jounin.

"Why did Sarutobi-sama look so sad?" Shizune asked, placing the bento on my desk.

"He wants me to send a team after his missing brat, but I can't. We're rebuilding." Shizune's eyes narrowed at this.

"Ono Kabucha?" She questioned. I nodded my head and popped open the lid of the bottle.

"You understand, right?" I asked, watching my reflection off the dark surface of the bottle.

"You're not sending a team after her?!" Shizune erupted, almost making me drop the bottle. Glaring at her, I tipped the bottle back and drank the addictive substance.

"What's your problem?!" I yelled, wiping my mouth on my sleeve. To my surprise, Shizune slapped her hands on my desk and yelled back at me.

"She survived a broken neck! That's never been done before. I don't even know when she got stabbed by a kunai, but I know she survived one to the head! Do you really want an immortal to be captured by another village?!" Shizune calmed down, but my mind was reeling.

"Oh... Kami..." I whispered, putting the bottle down. I would have to help rebuild to make up for the person I was taking.

"Go get Pig," I ordered. I wasn't going to send an entire team after her. She was, after all, a genin.

 _Orochimaru's P.O.V._

I had done it again; I had tried moving my arms when I had none. Damn it, I hated having to rely on others. We had arrived at one of my bases in Otogakure last night and Kabuto had treated my stumps; something I was unable to do.

"Where are you in a hurry to, Kabuto?" I asked, noticing the silver-haired shinobi had been growing... excited.

"Orochimaru-sama, I've discovered a kunoichi that cannot die." Raising my eyebrows, I looked at Kabuto from where I had been staring at the sandwich I couldn't pick up.

"Jashin worshipper?"

"No."

"Do you... have her?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "There's no use in telling me if you don't have her."

"I..." Kabuto turned away, not wanting to meet my eyes. "I... the team... she escaped."

"What?!" I roared, standing up in anger. Kabuto looked back at me through his pitiful glasses.

"I assigned a team to deposit her in one of your labs, but she escaped when they were sleeping."

"Sleeping?! Who was keeping watch?! Tell me someone was keeping watch!" I hissed, wishing I could obliterate the fool.

"The one keeping watch slipped away to use the restroom, underestimating her... strength."

"Did you at least put restraining cuffs on her?" I replied, calming down a little. I wished I had hands so I could rub my head, but sadly, someone had to take them and my Jutsu.

"Yes."

"Excellent. Take a team of trackers and capture her," I ended with a smile. As he was leaving, I remembered something.

"Kabuto." He turned around with a confused look.

"Bring me the one who was on watch that night."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

 _Shikamaru's P.O.V._

Why did we go after Sasuke? He was an acquaintance of mine, but that's as far as it goes regarding our relationship. Choji and I had wanted to go after Kabucha and I think Naruto did too, but Kiba and Neji plus Naruto had all agreed that we should go after Sasuke. I guess Naruto was closer to Sasuke than Kabucha. Since it was three to two, we had gone after the Uchiha...

... and almost died. What were we thinking?! We couldn't take them on!

"Shikamaru, don't be hard on yourself," Choji said softly, kneeling down to where I was hunched over. "It's not your fault."

"No," I replied in a shaky voice. "I almost got us killed." A few tears rolled down my cheeks, "without my permission," as Kabucha would say.

"It's okay," Naruto added, walking up to us from his previous fight. "We'll get the bastard." How was he taking this so well?

"How are you... coping?" I asked quietly. However silly it sounded, I wanted to know how he wasn't in tears like me.

"I'll just have to get stronger!" Naruto yelled, no smile on his face. So he was serious?

"What about... her?" Choji replied.

"Are you referring to Ono Kabucha?" Neji asked, brushing off an dust he had collected from his brawl.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Choji said with furrowed eyebrows. Why did the Hyuuga care about her?

"I've always sensed something... off with her chakra, but I didn't think it was big enough to call out," the Hyuuga stated.

"How's she immortal anyway?" Kiba added, carrying a limp Akamaru. Nobody had an answer, so we shrugged.

"Anyways, Shikamaru, you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. You just made a bad call," Naruto remarked. I stood up and wiped my face of the tears.

"I... I know. Thanks." How had Naruto, of all people, cheered me up? Usually, when I thought of him, he was an annoyance. He'd pull pranks and do stuff just to get attention, but that was probably because he was an orphan... orphan... Kabucha's an orphan, too. Maybe we could find clues with that shopkeeper she always hung around with.

 _Temou's P.O.V._

Picking up the framed photo, I sighed unhappily. I had told her not to be reckless, not to be careless. What had she done? Made herself a missing-nin. That damn girl. When the door ringed, I put the frame behind the counter. Before I could comprehend what happened, 5 brats were in my face.

"Where is she?" The Nara demanded. How... how dare they...!

"What the hell is wrong with you, kid?" I asked, pushing them off the counter.

"We know that you know Kabucha, Old Man!" Turning my head, I realized that the demon brat was in here, too. Kabucha had changed my views on the troublemakers of this blasted village, though. He was still annoying.

"Old man?" I questioned, raising my voice. "Who the hell you calling old man?!"

"Cut the shit. Where's Kabucha?" The Inuzuka dog asked. Before I answered, I took a deep breathe and looked at the framed photo behind the counter. It was a picture of Kabucha and I when she was 9-years old. She didn't have her hat yet and her hair had been longer. A big smile adorned her face and a light smile on mine. I had forced her to attend the Festival of Lights with me, but whenever anyone asked about it, she denied it ever happened.

"Sir?"

"Huh?" Snapping out of my daze, I realized the Hyuuga had spoken to me. Ah... The Hyuugas. At least they were polite.

"This is a... sensitive subject, isn't it?" Hyuuga asked, carefully. I nodded slowly.

"She... Never in a million years would I think... Would I expect..." I sniffled, not caring if the brats saw.

"Oh..." Nara whispered. "Sorry. I... I didn't rea-" I held up a hand.

"It's okay, kid." The Akimichi stepped up from where he had been watching.

"Do you know anything about where she could've gone?" Sadly, I shook my head.

"Anything at all?" Before I shook my head, I thought about it. What the hell? It wouldn't hurt to reveal a bit about her now that she was missing.

"She had the most amazing ideas. Buildings that could scrape the skies, going to the Moon." The brats looked among themselves, confused.

"What does this have to do wi-" The demon brat started, but I cut him off with a glare.

"This is your only lead, isn't it?" A couple of brats looked down and nodded sheepishly.

"Then shut up and listen! Listen... Hey!" My outburst startled them. "Listen, she kept telling me that lots of shinobi did nothing but talk and talk and talk during their fights. If you find her, keep that in mind. She kept saying they were dumb and stupid for giving away their strengths. She's stronger than you think and smarter, too. Oh yeah. You have no idea how smart that girl is... when she wants to be. She treats life like a game sometimes, but other times?" They leaned forward in anticipation. "She doesn't. You won't believe it, but she dumbs herself down, so nobody gets suspicious of her smarts. Kinda like you, Nara."


	22. Insanity

**AN: Thank you Thomas Drovin and Art is An Eternal Bang, for reviewing this story! Thanks for all the positive reviews! School is starting back up, so I'm sorry if I don't post as often! Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 22**

After that night, I became unfocused. You know how you stare at something, but you're actually thinking about something else and the thing you're staring at is blurry until you actually focus on it? Yeah, that's how I felt with life right now. I wasn't concentrating when I told Tobi to go run laps or when Nana made breakfast.

I guess I didn't care anymore and if I didn't care... did I have free reign to act crazy, now? No, it wasn't the time. While I was in the bathroom, I had stared at myself in the mirror and prepared a bunch of one-liners for when the time was right. Now, I was staring at the cornfield from the back porch. Nana was taking a long nap and Tobi was finishing up his laps.

"K-Kabucha... Am I done?" Tobi stuttered, coming into view. He was very sweaty and his hair was slicked back from all the sweat. His shirt was drenched, but that was something a shower could fix.

"How many laps have you run?" I asked, not bothering to look at him.

"Uh, 20," he replied and joined me on the porch. "I'm done."

"You wanna hear a story?" He looked at me for a second, then shrugged.

"Why not?"

"Alright," I started, finally turning my gaze from the corn to him, "I've got three. Snow princess, A street rat, or a finder of peace." He thought about it for a moment while catching his breath.

"I've heard Snow Princess before," he replied, though I doubt we were talking about the same one. "How about Finder of Peace?"

"Alright. Long ago, there was a prince named Siddartha Guatama. One time, he saw someone suffering and asked his advisers why people suffer. The advisers told him..." On and on I went, telling Tobi the tale of Buddha. Of course, he thought it wasn't real. Hell, I didn't even know it was real, but there was an entire religion centered around it. I had no right to judge, seeing as I worshipped God.

"But how did he stop the monks from hurting themselves?" Tobi wondered aloud.

"He didn't. He found out that damaging his own body only brought more suffering to him, so he let them be and moved on."

"What? But... but..."

"It's a story, Tobi. Maybe you should treat it like one?" I offered. Waving me off, he started fanning himself.

"Okay... okay. Can you show me another cool Jutsu?" He begged, looking at me with a sweaty face. Without saying anything, I formed a clone and it transformed into Yoda.

"W-what is-" Tobi stuttered.

"A necessity, speaking is not," my clone interrupted in Yoda's craggily voice.

"It's just a clone," I explained, twirling a lock of my short, brown hair. Tobi looked back and forth between me and the clone.

"You don't look the same..." He muttered, staring at the strange, green alien.

"Wise, you claim to be," Yoda remarked, "but powerful, you are not." Tobi groaned and fanned himself again.

"I'm doing all I can... Seriously, how long do I need to train?" I winked at Yoda, knowing he had this one.

"Plant the seeds, you must. Harvest later, you will," he replied with a groggy chuckle.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tobi complained. Furrowing my eyebrows, I stood up straight and actually focused on him.

"People aren't going to just give you the answers, Tobi. Use your head and figure out the riddle. Wise men listen and do not talk-"

"Talk and never listen, fools do," Yoda ended. Tobi stopped fanning himself and looked between us once more. Instead of saying anything, he watched the corn rustle under the wind.

"Plant the seeds... you must... Seeds? I guess this is a megaphor, then."

"Metaphor," I corrected.

"Right. Anyway, since this is a metaphor, I guess the seeds mean... training? It must, because I've been doing nothing but training since you got here."

"On the right path, you are," Yoda commented, smiling at the boy's revelation.

"So... the harvest must mean battle. I've got it!" He exclaimed, suddenly, eyes growing big. "If I train now, then I'll be grateful for it in battle?"

"Wise, you are becoming." With that, Yoda popped himself out of existence.

"Who was he anyway?" Tobi asked, disappointed that the Jedi master had left.

"Master Yoda," I replied. "Do you see why I made him?" Tobi thought for a second, before shaking his head. "I made him, because you need to sharpen your mind. True warriors don't need muscles, because they use their brain. Tobi, before we continue, what will... No. Hold on, I'm going to stand over there," I pointed to a spot not far away from the porch, "and you're going to stand here." I pointed across from my spot. Walking off the porch, we assumed our positions.

"We're not going to fight, but let's go through what would happen in a fight. Begin!" I proclaimed, loudly. Taking a basic stance, I waited for Tobi to do the same.

"Wait, so you want me to fight you...?" He muttered, face going pale.

"No! Act like I'm someone your age, but smaller than you. We're just going through the motions. Now, begin!"

"You're going do-!" Before he could finish his stupid statement, I frowned and put up a hand.

"Wrong! Tobi, you have to attack when they're least expecting it. True, most people would probably reply to you after you said that, but you need to shut up and fight." Tobi looked at a loss.

"What-? But... I-" I rubbed my forehead of sweat. Why was the Land of Fire so hot?

"Tobi, I know it may seem like I'm being hard on you, but the truth is... I want you to win. Don't ever talk in a fight, unless you want to purposefully piss off your opponent." Tobi's eyes narrowed.

"Swear." What? Was that all he had caught of my speech?

"Tobi, seriously?"

"I get it! I get it. I won't talk during fights, okay?" The next day, after I was sure that Tobi had learned his lesson, I started working on his defense. Nana always took long naps during the day and Tobi always ran 20 laps to start the day off. While I waited for Tobi to finish, I worked on getting the Clone Jutsu and Replacement Jutsu mastered so I wouldn't have to do any handseals.

"What's next?" Tobi asked, excitedly. He came to a stop at the back porch and jumped up and down. Making a clone, I sighed. This wouldn't be easy. The clone transformed into Cad Bane with a 'poof!'

"Huh? Who's that? Is he like Master-"

"No, kiddo," Bane cut off, his crinkly voice echoing for a bit. "I'm here to make your life miserable."

"Tobi," I started, drawing the young, blond's attention to me. "Cad Bane here, is going to try to hit you. If you get hit, you take a lap, got it?" Tobi's face scrunched up, but he didn't complain.

"Fine. But, what does this have to do with my ninja training?"

"Defense. I was never taught how to properly defend myself, but I caught on. Surely you can do that?" I taunted.

"Hmph!" He huffed and marched a little ways away from the porch. Spreading his feet apart, I could see he was equally balanced, just like I taught him.

Bane jumped from the porch and landed with a 'thud' on the dried, brown dirt. To be honest, I was just now noticing how much Cad Bane looked like a cowboy. Maybe that's what the creators were thinking when they made him? Eh...

Instead of panicking, Tobi kept his cool, like my lessons taught him. Truth be told, I had been here for three days and didn't expect him to actually listen to my lessons, but he did, surprisingly. I guess he was serious about his dream? Eh, who cares?

Bane threw a fake punch at Tobi and to my disappointment, the boy actually dodged it. Smirking, Bane brought his foot up and kicked Tobi, who flew backwards from the impact.

Wait.

How could Bane even touch Tobi? He was a regular clone. I hadn't developed or used any other clone technique, yet the proof was right in front of me. My clone of Bane looked equally as shocked and looked back to me for instructions. I shooed him and told him to keep going.

Turning back to Tobi, Bane threw up his arms to block a surprise punch from the young boy, but it was too late. Tobi's fist hit Bane's chest with a 'thud,' and the blue alien was sent stumbling back. Shaking off the strange feeling, the clone stood up straight once again.

"Built solid, kiddo," the clone commented, smirking at the enraged Tobi who was fuming from where he had punched Bane.

"Ah!" Tobi yelled and ran towards Bane. Lips in an upturned smile, Bane removed his toothpick and flicked it at Tobi's incoming face. Wait... I hadn't seen that on the series... How did Bane do that?

"Being the clone of a kunoichi," Bane commented, no longer worrying about Tobi, who had stopped his assault to wipe his face of the germs. "I got all the reflexes you got, sweetheart." So, could my clones read my mind or did they have the same thoughts that I did?

"Something along those lines," Bane replied, jumping to avoid a leg sweep from Tobi. Landing, the blue-skinned alien adjusted his tilted hat. "You really been payin' attention to those lessons, ya know?" Again, I was amazed at how my clone kept Bane's voice.

"I was serious when I said-" Tobi started, but I cut him off.

"Tobi!" I yelled from the second step on the back porch. I had gotten up from where I had been sitting to get a better view of the fight. Tobi was actually doing very well for someone who had started his training two days ago. His downfall was that he wanted to respond to Bane.

"Right," the blond muttered, crossing his arms in front of his face to deflect an incoming punch. "No talking."

"Damn right, kiddo. Only the pros get to talk," Bane replied with a smirk. Lowering his arms quickly, Tobi threw another punch at Bane, who sidestepped it. Grabbing Tobi's left arm from where it was outstretched with the intent to hurt, Bane stepped behind him and twisted his arm behind his back.

"Damnit..." The boy squeaked.

"Swear," Bane commented. Without turning around, Tobi head butted the alien in the chest, who let him go in pain.

"You got guts, now take three laps, kiddo." Groaning, Tobi sprinted off to run around the field. We waited for about an hour before we started all over again. Bane only got two hits on Tobi and then gradually, one. I guess the stinker was a quick learner.

"W-what..." Tobi huffed, leaning over, "what now?" He looked up with a sweaty face. Bane and I looked at each other before agreeing on one thing.

"Offense."

But that was for another day. Tobi was (dare I say) tuckered out from "learning" about defense. The real reason I had used Cad Bane, was because I was very lazy and didn't feel like trying to hit Tobi at the moment. Of course, I knew that my skills weren't the best, but that's why I "summoned" Bane, so that he could teach the stinker to fight. I wonder if anyone else has found this "cheat" with clones and transformation. And if so, how did they discover it? And how did Bane hit Tobi?

Before I dispelled the clone, I waited till Tobi was inside to ask.

"You know... I didn't quite know until I realized that I had a lot of chakra. I thought that you'd given me too much, but you never said anything about it, so I kept going. Maybe it's that immortal thing, yeah?" He inquired. Dispelling the clone, I scratched my chin. Maybe he was right. Since I couldn't die, then I guess I couldn't run out of chakra.

"Teagen, come inside!" Someone called. Snapping out of my daydream, I whipped my head around and saw Nana holding open the door with a pitcher of lemonade in her hand.

"What'd you say? Exactly," I asked, not believing my ears.

"Kabucha, come inside?" Nana repeated, a confused frown on her wrinkly face. Shaking away the confusion, I plastered a smile onto my face.

"Alright, Nana." Walking inside, where the cool AC hit my hot face, I couldn't help but frown. Who's voice was that? Had I been hallucinating? Was I under a genjut- No. Nana and Tobi would never do that to me... right?

Eh.

That night, I stayed up and listened to the coyotes. They never caught anything though. I guess there weren't any earlybirds. I would've laughed, but I didn't say the joke outloud, so I didn't. Geez. Even my own thoughts were scary crazy. Even my own thoughts were scary crazy.

.

.

.

Did I just... _repeat_ my own thought? Maybe my mind was slowly going insane or maybe I needed sleep. So many possibilities...

"Shh..." I hushed no one but myself. I needed to stop acting so damn crazy and get my head screwed on straight.

Or maybe I could...

"Go to bed..." I told myself. Putting one foot in front of the other, I marched back to my room from where I had been staring out the kitchen window. Shutting the door, the sounds of the coyotes reverberated throughout the house. I sighed and slipped under the covers. Tomorrow was a new day. Hopefully I wouldn't be insane. Speaking of insane...

Grabbing the sides of my head, I resisted the urge to bonk it on the metal bed frame. I wished I knew how to stop the insane words bouncing around in my head. Maybe if I could die... but that wasn't a possibility.

I felt like singing.

Dancing.

Yelling.

Not sleeping.

"Ba da ba! Come on Eileen!" I sung. I had had it with being inside. "... Turatulatura! Come on Eileen... Everything." Who cares if coyotes came? Maybe they could be my backup singers! Holy shit. I was insane.

"Come on Eileen... Everything! What's your address?!" I sung loud as can. "Come on. Eileen, tooloorah, eh, come on, Eileen, tooloorah, eh come on. Tooloorah!" I didn't care anymore. Konoha didn't want me. I wouldn't want me either. Haha.

"Ha... Hahaha!" I cackled, then stopped suddenly. What was I doing?

"I'm insane," I muttered to myself.

"Appears so," someone else said. My musical tyranny ended and I whirled to the voice, only to see... no one there? Was I _that_ insane?


	23. Promises Not Kept

**AN: Thank you for all the amazing reviews, Thomas Drovin, Art is An Eternal Bang, kani-leek-lover and everyone else. I'm sorry if I didn't name you, I've forgotten. Thanks to all the favorites and follows too! Happy Holidays! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 23**

Why was I going insane? Was it the time away from my family? The revelation that my own village abandoned me? Kabuto kidnapping me? Or was my mind slowly progressing into the deep, dark trench that it belonged? Was it something to do with my old life? **Maybe** the shinobi life was too stressful on my 19-year old mind.

"Kabucha?" Tobi asked, hesitantly. Snapping out of my thoughts, I had realized that I had been dabbing medicine on the same bruise for 5 minutes. He sat across from me on his bed and since I didn't know medical Jutsu, I had had to treat him myself. Who knows what would happen if we asked Nana to help.

"Sorry. I was just thinking," I replied. calmly. Two dark bruises stood out on Tobi's face; one on his forehead and one on his chin. They weren't any bigger than a baseball and were healing nicely with my care.

"Kabucha-sensei," Throwing the rag in Tobi's dirty laundry hamper, I turned around with a confused face. Why'd he call me that? He had never called me that. "I've told you my dream... but you never told me your's." His cute, little voice reminded me of a kid I used to babysit in the old world.

"My dream? Why would you wanna know that?" I retorted, sitting on his comfy bed across from him. Nana had given me blue outfits now, usually consisting of long, blue, baggy pants and a short-sleeved shirt. That's what I wore now.

"It's weird, ya know?" He replied, looking at his tractor rug. "You come out of the blue and grant me something I thought I'd never get: a teacher. So, I wanna know what your dream is." Looking back to me, he waited for an explanation.

"You really wanna know?" I checked with a sigh. His blonde hair swayed with his nod. "Huh... Well, I've always wanted to go to the Olympics." Frowning, Tobi shook his head, denying my claim.

"No. A real dream, Kabucha." Smiling at the oblivious boy, I found the situation ironic. Back in the old world, if I'd told anyone I'd wanted to got to the Olympics with volleyball, they'd just laugh and shake their heads, telling me how stupid I was. Here, it was a whole different story. Everyone here thought that my imagination was just my imagination. They all said it was fake and that the Olympics and skyscrapers and planes didn't exist.

"Fine..." I chastised. "I want to go out with a bang." Tobi's eyes narrowed at my goal and he pointed a bossy finger at me.

"No! You can't talk about death like that," he ordered. If I could make him run laps, I would, but sadly, today was his only day off: Saturday.

"Okay," I blankly answered back. Who cares about it anyway? I sure as hell do. If only Tobi knew how badly I wanted to die... To see my mom and dad again. See my volleyb-

"Promise?" I had barely heard it, but I knew that Tobi had spoken the word. Why? Why did he insist on keeping promises with someone like me...? Shaking my head, I cleared up the insane questions I had been asking myself. There was no need to scare Tobi.

"Promise what?" I asked, putting a hint of concern in my voice. This morning I had realized that I didn't sound very convincing. That was scary; when you couldn't convince yourself.

"Promise wh...? Promise not to talk about your death like that, Kabucha!" Tobi whisper-yelled. We were inside after all and nobody wanted to feel the wrath of Nana right now.

"Why do you care? I mean... Why don't you worry about youse- I mean..." I trailed off, realizing that if I drew Tobi in as a friend, he would probably turn into someone like Naruto and sacrifice himself for me, who couldn't die.

"Because," he started, grabbing my shoulders. Whoa, this was weird. Usually I was the one grabbing his shoulders. "I care for you, Kabucha-sensei. I don't want you to die." He ended the touching and brief speech with a hug, leaving me shocked. Consciously deciding that I probably needed to leave, I hugged him back, grateful that someone still cared. Maybe I was being naive to the attention I had been given in Konoha, I knew that now. I wouldn't take attention for granted again.

Our hug was interrupted with a knock at the door. Breaking away from me, Tobi launched off the bed to get the door before Nana woke up. Tobi's room was closest to the front door. Staying in his room, I quickly looked out the window and saw the shadow of a large and skinny person at the front door. Uh oh. I may have overstayed my welcome.

"Hello, young sir," a cheerful voice greeted Tobi. Blood freezing, I shrouded my chakra and got on my knees. Sliding under Tobi's bed, I heard the blond greet the stranger with equal enthusiasm. The reason I was afraid was because of that voice. It wasn't familiar, but I'd seen too many movies to allow something to happen. It wasn't real; their enthusiasm and cheerful tone was fake.

"Who are you?" Tobi asked, faking his innocence beautifully. I, myself, hadn't realized that Tobi had a knack for acting until he had talked to me in the barn on my first day here. "And why do ya have a mask on?"

What...? If that was Kabuto or something... I swear to Kami. I wouldn't swear in God's name, so I decided to swear in a god I didn't believe in. Dear Kami... Maybe I needed to rethink my approach on how to be respectful, but now wasn't the time. Or wait... I had seen Death before and he had said that he was a god, didn't he? Silently fuming at my own distractions, I shoved the thoughts aside and cleared my head; I needed to concentrate.

"My name is Sai and what is your's, if I might ask?" The happy voice questioned. Kami knows what Tobi was thinking right now, hopefully, "Don't let this guy in!"

"Why're you here?" Tobi asked, ignoring 'Sai's' question. I heard a couple of light chuckles before the man spoke again.

"My, my, a wise one, aren't you? I'm looking for someone and I've tracked them to here. May I have a look arou-"

"No. Step back outside, please," I heard Tobi say. What was going on? Had the stranger taken a step inside? Mentally chastising myself, I concentrated on the strangers chakra and found that his outline had just backed up outside. Making a sealless transformation, I now appeared as a maid lying underneath a child's bed. "She" had platinum blonde hair and was wearing a regular maids uniform: a black dress to my knees with a white apron over it.

"Hey! I said to- ugh!" Tobi groaned. Realizing that the stranger had kicked Tobi, I shuffled out from under the bed and ran out to be front entrance of the small farmhouse.

"Young master!" I squeaked, refusing to roll my eyes at my now hideously high voice. One time, I had sat around with my dorky friend at lunch and watched an animu or anime; whatever. The point is, my voice was like one of the girls from that weird show.

"Oh? A maid?" The still happy "Sai" queued. Looking at the man with my now green eyes, I yelled at him.

"What did you do to him?!" I demanded, noting just how much this guy was showing off. Hey, I could appreciate some abs and this guy was showing plenty of it. In fact, it seemed like his black shirt was cut just to show off his 6-pack. I would've called him narcissistic if I wasn't in disguise.

"Ma'am," Sai started, seeing my horrible performance of fussing over an unconscious Tobi lying on the floor. "May I have a look around?"

"Well, I guess you just let yourself in, so knock yourself out," I huffed, believing in my grade F acting skills. Stepping inside, Sai glanced around the house before walking around.

"Don't go in the far room," I ordered. "Miss Nana is sleeping in there." I really nailed my role of a worried maid.

"Yes, ma'am," the black-clothed shinobi worded from the kitchen. Oh shit. What hitai-ate had he been wearing? Wasn't it a Konoha one? Dangit. And did he even have a sex drive? I mean, I knew I wasn't attractive, but he didn't even flirt with me as a blonde! What the hell?

Ah, maybe it was my imaginati-

"I wonder," Sai's voice said directly behind me. Spinning around, I was met with the view of the hotty holding a kunai. "How a farm owner can afford maid service, hmm?" Narrowing my eyes, I held my tongue, careful not to give away my façade.

"You beat up the young... sir," I criticized, searching for what maids called their employers, "and then you talk about their wealth, as if you knew about it?" Instead of replying immediately, Sai reached behind him. Hearing the rustling of clothe, I had a distinct idea as to what he had gotten, but it was a slim chance.

"No more games. You are Ono Kabucha and you are coming with me," Sai replied, coldly, holding a bloody, green shirt in his right hand.

"Before we go, what division are you from, 'Sai?'" I asked, releasing the transformation to reveal a brown-haired, brown-eyed 12-year old who couldn't look any more boring. I missed my old look...

"None ya," he joked with an obviously fake smile plastered on his face. How could he joke like that? I needed to take some lessons from this guy; he was hot and he knew when to joke at inappropriate times. Taking some rope out from his weapon's pouch, he tied my hands tightly together in front of me. How stupid could someone get? Seriously...

"K-ka-" a weak voice called from the floor. Looking down, I realized that Tobi had regained consciousness and smiled to myself for reasons unknown. Geez, I even acted like an insane criminal. "D-don't l-l-leave..." He stuttered out, tears leaking down his cheeks. Looking to Sai, I raised both eyebrows in worry.

"Can't I say goodbye?" I implored, voice dangerously teetering on cracking. For a long while, maybe a minute, the Konoha-nin didn't reply. It looked to me, that he was reminiscing about a familiar situation, but I didn't know what. His onyx black eyes stared at the scene before him and I could almost see sadness behind those eyes. Alas, as I wasn't a soppy, romantic person, I stuck to waiting for his reply instead of wanting to know what was going on. In that time span, Tobi had shakily sat up and was now looking at the man he had answered the door to.

"Hurry up," the dark-haired shinobi ordered, calmly. Kneeling down next to Tobi, I waited for him to start the goodbyes, as I didn't care to start things so dramatic.

"You promised!" Tobi stated, calmly, looking into space. He was looking into my eyes, but I could tell he wasn't actually focusing that much.

"Listen, I'll come back. Or," I replied, with a chirpy tone in my voice, "you could come to Konoha and vis-"

"Kabucha. Ono Kabucha..." He muttered, before his eyes went wide with realization. "You're her! You're the missing-nin! I don't..."

"Listen... Those stories I told you," I pressed, "remember them?" With a deep breathe, Tobi nodded slowly, grtting over the fact that he had been taught by a missing-nin. I was so proud; I hadn't expected my lessons on 'not caring about things' would actually pay off in the end.

"They're true." Standing up, I started walking out the front door with Sai right behind me.

"Wait! How c-could...W-what do you-?" Tobi stammered, quickly, as if he would run out of time to say what he wanted to say. Instead of slowing down, Sai shut the door behind him, silencing Tobi's attempts at deciphering my last word.

"So who're you with?" I asked, quietly, watching the cornfields fade from view as we walked farther and farther.

"Classified." There goes my entertainment... or did it?

"You're too sexy, beautiful... I still get jealous," I sung, softly. I'll admit, my voice wasn't Ariana Grande's or Miley Cyrus's, but if that annoyed the shinobi leading me, then so be it. As I got further along in the song, I was surprised that he still hadn't silenced me. Maybe he enjoyed it or something. Ew, wait. People don't get disgusted when hearing me sing... do they? Eh. Who cares? I gotta go with the flow.

Switching gears, I started singing snippets of songs that I still remembered after four years of not hearing them.

"Quiet, pervert." Brown eyes lazily shifting to my captor, a delayed reaction occurred before I processed what had just been voiced.

"What?" I stupidly said, deprived of entertainment.

"You said, "get down girl, go 'head get down." Am I wrong in assuming that you're a pervert?" He asked with a smooth voice. It was like butter with how smooth it was; like... like waves on water. I couldn't properly describe it, but his voice was pleasing to listen to, at least for me. For all I knew, his buddies wanted him to shut up.

"It was a song," I corrected, but it seemed as though he had stopped listening. Getting tiered of looking at his butt, maybe I was a pervert, I shifted my gaze to the trees and counted leaves for a while.

"What if I yelled, right now?" I asked, letting out an insane thought. Turning his head to the side slightly, the cute shinobi cocked an eyebrow at the obviously random question, but didn't answer it.

"What if I pinch-" Slapping my hands over my mouth, I stopped myself from asking that question. He didn't say or do anything to acknowledge that I had almost asked what would happen if I pinched his butt.

"Do you have any other songs?" He asked out of the blue. Losing count of the leaves, I sighed and looked back at Mr. Abs-O-Steel. Instead of asking why in the world he wanted to hear me sing more, I asked what his preference was. It was obvious that it would take at least a couple days to get back to Konoha, so I was happy with someone showing interest in my average vocal abilities.

Mulling over the question, he cocked his head and tapped his chin. Of course, I couldn't see his face, as he was walking a little bit ahead of me.

"A slower one than what you've been singing." Maybe I was insane, maybe I was mad, maybe I was seeing things, but I thought I saw his shoulders slump a tad as he was thinking about his song type.

"Where is the moment when you need it the most?" I started, singing Bad Day by Daniel Powler. I think I was imagining things, but I thought Sai's gait fell into the beat of the song. "Ya fallin' to pieces every time and I don't need no care... 'Cause ya had a bad. Ya take it one down. Ya sing a sad song just turn it around. Ya tell me don't... Ya tell me don't lie..." In truth, I had forgotten some of the lyrics over the years of living in this world, but I could tell that Sai couldn't tell. He was actually tapping his hand to his side in rhythm with the song.

Without warning, Sai whirled around and shoved me in a bush. Just as I was about to yell, he slapped a hand over my mouth and held a kunai to my throat.

"Hide your chakra," he murmured into my ear. Nodding silently, I cloaked my only energy source in this world. Instead of talking anymore, both of us stayed quiet. I only did it because this guy had been able to sense my disguise back at the farm.

A couple of seconds later, three pairs of feet appeared in front of our bush, all wearing open-toed shoes, much to my disgust. Those things were fashion catastrophes in themselves. Even Sai wore them; yep, big, old, ugly, black sandals. One day, I would show the world that open-toed shoes for ninja was a very bad idea.

"Did you hear something?" A man's voice asked. Maybe it was the right or middle guy? Definitely not the guy standing on the left.

"... No, only my imagination," another voice replied, this one was deeper. A gross drop of sweat rolled off Sai's head and dropped onto mine with how close our faces were, but we didn't dare move. Oh my gosh, I was actually insane. Why didn't I call out for help or something? More importantly, who was that? Was it a team from Konoha, seeing as how that was the closest hidden village or was it another village's team?

"Let's keep moving. Lady Tsunade wants the fugitive caught immediately," a girl's voice rang out. Instead of replying, the other two disappeared with the third not far behind. After 5 minutes, I guess Sai had deemed it safe, because he yanked me out of the bush with him. Wiping my face of the disgusting sweat that had rolled on me, I asked who Lady Tsunade was.

"I... do not know," Sai replied with that smooth voice of his. Maybe he was lying, but I didn't care. All I knew, was that I wasn't going to sing anymore. As we started walking again, I looked down and caught sight of my ruined shoes. Crinkling my nose, I wondered if prisoners were given new shoes if theirs' wore out.

"When we reach Konoha, I will have to knock you out," Sai said after a while. I'm sure he had his own suspicions as to why I wasn't trying to escape, but that was his deal, not mine. Me? I personally didn't give a monkey's right ass cheek as to what was going to go down once I reached Konoha. As long as I wasn't raped, I was fine.

"Wanna play a game?" I offered, tired of the neverending tree landscape. I was sure he was too.

"No."


	24. Guilt

**AN: I stayed up writing this chapter. Hope you guys like it! Reviews are needed, seeing as how I don't know if people even like this story. Tell me what y'all like and stuff, I can't do this on my own. Or can I?! Lol, just kidding. Thanks Thomas Drovin for reviewing! Thanks for all the favorites and follows as well! Happy Holidays, if you're still celebrating! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 24**

When we arrived on the outskirts of Konoha, Sai knocked me out, just like he had promised. It felt like a second had passed and before I knew it, I woke up.

"Hello," someone said, probably a grown man, by the sound of it. Opening my eyes, I was met with the sight of a small, dark office that was illuminated by candles on the walls. Silver file cabinets lined the walls and in the middle of the room, sat a man behind an oak wood desk. The right half of his face was wrapped up with bandages and he wore a black robe with a white shirt underneath. Black hair stuck out of the top of the bandages like an overgrown plant, reaching an inch or two down his forehead. Smelling an earthy tone, I guessed that we were underground.

Looking around, I spotted Sai with a mask on to my right. Where'd that mask come from?

"Ahem," the old man coughed, drawing my attention back to him.

"Uh..." What'd he want me to say? "Yeah...?" I said, hesitantly. For some reason, he smiled.

"It's so good to finally meet you, Ono Kabucha. I am Danzo and I have a proposition for you," he offered, waiting eagerly for my reply. Well, he wasn't all that eager; his eye had widened from where it stared at me, bored.

"Proposition?" I repeated, lacing my voice with interest, trying to move my arms apart. Darn, they were still tied. Sai didn't show any outword emotion, in fact, he looked like a statue. The only sign that he was alive, was the vice-like grip on my right arm. Leaning forward, Danzo smiled widely, as if anticipating my capture for a long time.

"Instead of turning you in, how about you join my organization? It would benefit you and me, so it's a fair deal," he explained, scrapping his chair against the wood floor as he slowly stood up. Bringing both hands up, because I couldn't separate them, I tapped my chin in thought.

"Well?" Danzo inquired with an impatient tone, walking around the desk. Stopping a couple of feet from me, he held his arms behind his back and waited.

"What's the payout?" I asked, bringing my hands back down in front of me. Impossibly, his grin grew wider at my snarky answer.

"Enough... So, will you join?" He repeated. Looking up at the ceiling, I put my hands on my head.

"What other choice do I have?" I said aloud, glancing quickly to the old man. His grin had turned into a smirk and his eyes had narrowed. Up to no good, I see? Well, I did say that I wanted excitement. "What's the name of this organization?"

Wagging a finger at me, Danzo did that 'ah-ah-aahh' thing to me; I'd only seen that in movies.

"You'll be told that, only if you join," he answered, furrowing his brows. Looking to my right, I could now see that Sai was staring at me through his stupid mask. Take the damn mask off, fool. Lowering my arms in front of me, I blew out a puff of air.

"You've got a deal." Holding out my hands, I waited for him to shake one of them. He seemed baffled, almost like he didn't believe I would join. After a couple of seconds, he grasped my left hand firmly and shook it, finalizing the deal.

"Get those bonds off her," he ordered Sai. Almost immediately, the ropes fell to the floor from a single swoop of Sai's sword thingy. Stretching my arms out, I patted Sai's back in a silent thanks. He only grunted though to show his acknowledgement.

"How's this gonna work?" Sitting back down, Danzo ordered Sai to pull up a chair and leave. Obeying the command, he retrieved a padded chair from outside the office. Casting one last glance at us, he shut the metal door quietly, as to not anger Danzo.

Sitting in the chair, I repeated the question.

"Seeing as how nobody in Konoha knows you're alive, you will be changing your appearance to be able to go on missions. While you are here, you will be trained as anyone here was trained. No emotions-"

"Whoa, pal," I interrupted, holding up a hand. Glaring, Danzo motioned for me to go on. Coughing, I did just that.

"You see, I don't actually care about anyone." Eyebrows raising, Danzo leaned forward.

"What do you mean, child? Surely you have someone you care about? After all, didn't you make friends with your team? What about that little boy, Tobi? You don't care about him?" The onslaught of questions was never ending, as though the old man didn't have a filter. I held up a brief hand to stop his questions and he silenced himself.

"In reality, I am not from here. My friends aren't my friends. This village is not my village. This body, is not mine. I am not 12."

"What?!" He exclaimed, his visible eye widening in shock. "How is that possible?" Making a face at him, I shrugged and plastered a neutral look to my face.

"I'm from another world. This secret is only known by Hiruzen Sarutobi and Yamanaka Inoichi. Inoichi searched my mind for any case of mental illnesses and found out I was from a different world. Seeing as how I didn't jeopardize Konoha, the Hokage let me be and here I am now," I finished, sucking in a much needed breath. Leaning back in his chair, Danzo peered at me through his one eye, silently mulling over my explanation.

"I... How is your world different from this one? And what causes you to not care about people?" Danzo asked at last, breaking the awkward silence. If he was hiding something from me, he wasn't going to tell it.

"Well..." I didn't really know where to start. What was the biggest difference between this place and America...? "People in my country don't fight. The majority of us are peaceful and well mannered."

"What do you mean, "they don't fight?" He interrogated, sitting straight in his green swivel chair.

"We have a military program to fight for us. The majority of America is peaceful and composed of... civilians." Maybe he would understand if I spoke in terms he understood?

Hour by hour, Danzo listened to me explain America and everything else. I could tell he didn't believe some parts, like the fact that my world had nearly 7 billion people, but who cares?

"One last thing, before I fully accept you into Root," Danzo stated, slowly pulling something out of his black robe.

"If you're going to do something, do it," I demanded, impatiently waiting for the inevitable. A rather nasty looking smile bloomed upon his face and a kunai was sent whizzing between my eyes, sending my world into a darkness I was all too familiar with. Death's outline appeared in my vision, but surprisingly, he only chuckled and said one thing.

" **Fool.** "

Waking up in the same office, I felt something drip down my face and land on my now bloody, blue shirt. Looking up to Danzo, I saw he had the widest eye is ever seen and was gaping.

"What's the matter?" I taunted, menacingly, making sure my eyes were wide and my eyebrows uneven. That's how mad scientists looked. Standing up, I marched to his desk and put my hands on it, leaning my head above the oak wood surface on purpose. Down my blood dripped.

Plop.

Plop.

"Never seen an immortal before?" Shakily, Danzo reached up and touched the kunai still embedded in my head.

"D-doesn't... it hurt?" he asked, shakily, trying to get a grip on himself. Seeing a blood drop land on my right hand, I brought that hand up and grabbed the end of the kunai. Yanking it out, I stabbed it into his desk. The thin, stretched hole in my head did hurt, but I wasn't going to tell him that. It was actually a deep throbbing in my mind that wouldn't go away and it felt like a bee kept stinging me where the hole was. Why throw off the allusion when I could alter it?

"Get a grip, man. When do I start?" I asked, watching the blood slowly drip down the kunai and form a tiny pool on his desk. Running a hand down his face, Danzo regained his composure and started smiling.

"Immediately," he replied, gleefully. Smirking at the fool, I couldn't help but compare myself to a spider and Danzo to a fly. He's fallen into my trap, or in his mind, I'd fallen into his. Truth be told, I didn't actually know what I would be doing to this organization, but it brought some entertainment into my life.

"You will dye your hair white," Danzo started, rubbing his hands together. "You will wear colored contacts. You will grow your hair out and... you are now part of Root. From now on, you'll be trained to be a killer. No emotions. No... madness." He ended that last part with hesitation. From there on, it was a blur to me. Sai led me to my new bedroom and gave me a change of clothes, bandages and medical supplies for my forehead, white hair dye, blue eye contacts, and a mask.

The mask was a white smiling face. A single red line was painted on as the mouth and there were no other distinguishing features about it other than the two eyeholes that surprisingly gave me lots of room to see. Putting the mask on my bed, I looked at the other items. Before he had left, Sai had also given me instructions on how to dye my eyebrows. Back in my world, this was a major risk, considering you could go blind, but here, I had to comply to Danzo's orders.

The contacts were special, Sai had said. They wouldn't irritate my eyes, seeing as how Danzo had ordered special ones for all of Root. I could keep them in as long as I wanted with no side affects. It was the same for the dye. Unless Danzo undid it, my hair was staying white forever. Whatever. I hadn't needed contacts in the old world, so I guess this was a big plus? Eh.

Grabbing the contact case, bandages, and hair dye, I immediately went into the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, I saw someone I didn't know. A brown-haired girl with stupid brown eyes, doing stupid things with her life. Placing the objects on the white counter, I turned on the hot water of the sink. Grabbing the only hand towel in the restroom, I ran it under the hot water and dabbed the hole in my head gently, trying not to irritate it. Unscrewing the lid to the hydrogen peroxide, I poured a little on the towel.

Taking a deep breath, I pressed the towel to the thin hole. Biting my tongue, I resisted the urge to cry out in pain. I knew shinobi had great hearing and I knew they would hear me if I cried. As the pain passed, I dropped the towel on the counter and looked at myself again. Everything had healed alright, minus my forehead, which I had put a bandaid on.

Everything except my guilt.

Something stirred within my chest and before I knew it, the stirring turned into a slightly painful, wrenching feeling. Guilt.

Mom and Dad would be ashamed of me, if they saw me now. They'd tell me that I was acting up. They'd tell me that I hadn't taken my medicine that morning. They'd tell me that I was a sneaky, little, antisocial girl that didn't know when she had it good. Although I missed them, I didn't miss this guilt trip I'd fallen into.

For the first time since I had arrived in Konoha, I put my hands flatly together, closed my eyes, and prayed.

"Dear, Lord. I'm sorry for what I have done." I paused in my prayer. Would God think I was evil by doing bad things in a different land? Dangit.

"I'm sorry for what I've done," I repeated, telling myself to quite doubting my own words. "I want to wish that I wasn't immortal, but I know that there're people that need this immortality... sick people. I feel terrible about my decision to join this organization. I feel terrible about leaving Tobi behind. I feel terrible about not caring about anyone. I know now, that I was wrong in not being grateful that you've blessed me with this opportunity to have friends..." Trailing off, I questioned my last statement. I couldn't say that to God.

"I mean, I was grateful to have friends... in the... in the past, ya know? But... I... I'm sorry if I'm sounding ungrateful. I'm sorry I haven't prayed to you up until now." Thinking over my life up until now, I recalled all my mistakes and realized that I learned from them. I couldn't be hard on myself, but... would God agree? No. He loved everyone, even me...

But I couldn't put myself before others.

"Dear, Lord. I'm sorry that I called my friends "duds." I'm sorry that I betrayed Konoha. I believe... I believe I don't belong here, if that's okay with you." Idiot! Now he thought I was bossy! But, wait, God was understanding. That's what my church had told me and that's what I believed.

"Dear, Lord. Can... can we talk again? I feel like talking to you helps me get through this world. I don't have lots of guilt anymore. Maybe you view me as a child... Maybe not," I explained, noting that the bedroom door had opened, but I didn't care. The bathroom door was still closed. If I stopped talking to God, he would believe that I hated him. I needed to stop being hard on himself.

"Dear, Lord. Thank you... Amen." Ending the prayer, I opened my eyes. Twisting the bathroom doorknob, I opened the door to reveal Danzo inspecting my room.

"Yes... sir?" I questioned, bringing his gaze to me. His eyes lingered on the bandage on my head before he looked me in the eyes.

"Open your mouth," he ordered. Compiling, I told myself that this was just an old guy. I could take him if he tried anything. After all, maybe he was just giving me candy or something?

A searing pain erupted on my tongue and it instinctively went to the top of my mouth to escape the flames consuming it. Opening my teary eyes, I gave Danzo a confused look.

"You will not talk about Root to anyone. Understood?" He checked, sneering at my pained expression. Tongue still on fire, I nodded quickly. Deciding that I wouldn't talk about Root, Danzo nodded and left, leaving a set of instructions on the bed. As he walked away from my room, the pain gradually went away.

Closing both doors, I escaped to the bathroom and inspected my tongue. In the back of it, there was a dark green tattoo. It was a bunch of stripes forming an unknown kanji. I think it said "obey," but I wasn't sure. Closing my mouth, I looked at the contacts and white dye in curiosity.

A half-hour and a shower later, I was looking into the same mirror, but was seeing a different person. This girl looked serious. Her white hair looked genuine and her blue eyes looked like she had been born with them.

This girl looked fake.

My black, open-toed sandals disgusted me. My usual blue outfit had been replaced by a form-fitting black outfit. It was almost Sai's outfit, but my shirt was whole. A regular weapons' pouch rested on my right leg. Seeing as how I hadn't grown anything, I didn't see the point of the fabric being almost like spandex and showing off my 12-year old figure.

I took a moment to inspect my new room. It had wood floors and tan walls. The ceiling was made of stone, though. The room had a bed with a metal bed-frame, a lone, deflated pillow, and a couple of blankets. Other than that, there was no other furniture. The bathroom only had the necessities: a toilet, toilet paper, sink, towels, and shower. In the shower, there were two, new bottles of shampoo and a bar of white soap.

On the bed, laid my mask and the paper containing the instructions Danzo had given me.

 _Your new name is Kyoki. Do not use your old name again. Report to my office when you finish reading this. Bring your mask._

Slipping on my mask, I was escorted by Sai, who had been waiting outside my room the whole time. Creep.

We had just left my room and were walking down the long, wooden-floored, confusing hallways. The earthy smell was overwhelming and annoying in my opinion. I didn't know how Sai survived, but he did, somehow.

"How are you... not dying?" Sai worded strangely. Glancing at the oddball, I gave him a confused look before comparing our outfits. It's like Danzo wanted us to look the same. It would've been cool if he had given me black hair dye and black contacts, then maybe we could've passed as twins.

"Do you mean..." I tried saying "immortal," but it felt like a hot iron was placed on my tongue. The feeling passed when I had stopped trying to say the word and I realized I couldn't talk about certain things.

"Yes," he answered with that calm voice, not looking at me. Looking back forward, I saw the metal door of Danzo's office coming up on our left.

"It's a..." I kept trying to say things, but all my explanations resulted in my tongue being glued to the top of my mouth or given a hot iron.

"... long story," I finally said, not liking whatever seal was on my tongue. It was like my mother shushing me, but in a more hands-on way.

Opening the door, Sai and I stepped inside the office. I closed the door quietly, realizing that Sai had been here longer than me. Maybe he knew how to survive Danzo and strange marks on the tongue.

"Kyoki, Sai." Seeing Sai's masked face nod, at Danzo's acknowledgment, I copied him and nodded too. Watching the same thing happen twice, Danzo held back a chuckle.

"Since you really are immortal, you will assist in Root missions led by Sai. When you are not on missions, you will be training with me. Understood?"

I nodded quickly and silently. Leaning back in his chair, Danzo smiled. Inwardly, I did too. I had already realized that Danzo had discarded the fact that I said that I didn't care about anyone. I had also realized, that if I played my cards right, I could potentially become Danzo's right-hand man. Guessing from the seal on my tongue, the only way to do that was to obey Danzo.

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

"Explain to us your strengths," Danzo ordered, breaking me from my thoughts.

"I've mastered the Transformation Jutsu and am in the process of mastering Clone Justu and Substitution Jutsu. I can summon snakes and have decent taijutsu." Staring at me, Danzo and Sai looked shocked. I could only assume that Sai looked shocked, seeing as he was wearing a mask, too.

"What other Jutsu do you know?" Danzo asked, not believing what I had just said.

"I just know those three plus the summoning Jutsu."

"What's your elemental affinity, if you have one?" Danzo questioned, trying to ignore my limited knowledge of jutsus. Sai looked like he was cringing at it, too.

"Fire." Rubbing his chin, Danzo calmed down and pointed to Sai.

"He will help you with fire jutsus. You are to learn one every month. Understood?" After I nodded, he sent me and Sai out of his office.

"At 5 am tomorrow, I will come get you for training." With that, Sai started walking away.

"Wait!" I exclaimed. Turning his head, he paused in his long trek down the wooden-floored hallway.

"Hmm?" Fuckin' piece of shit, think you're higher than me. Shut the hell up, fool.

"Where's the cafeteria?"


	25. New Teammates?

**AN: Thanks for all the support and reviews! Thanks to Thomas Drovin for always reviewing! Thanks for all the favorite and follows and I'm glad people like it! I'm sorry for the very late chapter. I've got school and clubs to keep up with, so I'm very sorry. I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 25**

Chakra was like water; free-flowing, but hard as hell to use sometimes. Over the course of four or so years, I was drilled on how to correctly manipulate my frustrating chakra. I'm not going to go in depth about it since I barely know what the instructor told me.

Another thing that had changed, were the missions. Gone were the days of completing D-Rank missions with Team Ten. Instead, I got to assist in assassinations and B and A-Rank missions with Sai. I thought the assassinations were going to be easy, but sadly, they weren't; not when you had to kill a 7-year old daughter of a powerful politician.

 _"Hey, Poli-chan," I called, drawing the young civilian girl's attention. Spinning around, her twin braids whipped her in the face before settling at her shoulders. Spotting me, her doe eyes widened with excitement._

 _"Rei!" She replied, greeting me with a big hug to my legs. The girl was barely to my waist with how much I'd grown. My growth had stopped at 15-years old, leaving my height at a whopping 5'11 and probably, the tallest person in Konoha. But we weren't in Konoha; we were in a village on the outskirts of the Land of Fire._

 _Looking at the girl with sky blue eyes, an unsettling feeling churned in my stomach at what I had to do. Sai was watching everything from the rooftops. This mission was supposed to ensure my loyalty to Root once and for all._

 _"Let's go look at the field flowers, Poli-chan," I offered, giving her a big smile. Agreeing almost instantly, the little girl released my legs and ran to our familiar spot. She had shown me this spot when Sai and I had arrived at the village. So desperate for new friends, Poli had introduced herself to strangers out of the blue._

 _Unfortunately, this was our target._

 _"Look at these, Rei! Oh, and the blue ones look even prettier!" Jumping and hollering and skipping along, Poli kept calling me over to observe every batch of colorful flowers she found. Her pink skirt fluttered behind her and her yellow tank-top went well with it._

 _"Poli-chan...?" I gurgled out, not taking my eyes off the innocent child. My stomach felt like heaving its contents at what I had to do. Pausing in her energetic investigation of the field of flowers, Poli turned and looked at my white-haired figure, light disappearing from her eyes._

 _"Huh? What's wrong Rei? Why're you crying?!" Sniffling, I wiped my face with my black shirt. I didn't want to upset her before her death..._

 _Was there anyway to get out of this?_

 _"I... The flowers are so pretty, that they made me cry, Poli-chan!" I exclaimed, bending down. Quickly examining the yellow flowers before me, I picked a tiny sunflower that had just blossomed._

 _"Come here, I wanna give you something!" I told the child, not able to look the target in the eyes. Unable to resist a present from a 'friend,' Poli skipped to where I was kneeling, waiting for her. Every step she took, every leap and bound, my heartbeat got a little louder and my chest started compressing with guilt as a single thought kept racing through my mind._

 _Was there anyway out of this?_

 _Sweat appeared on my forehead, though I knew it wasn't from the sun. As Poli landed in a heap of skirt in front of me, I was forced to look away, afraid that if I saw her cheerful face, I wouldn't be able to do it. A spike of Sai's chakra told me to move along with the plan, but how could I? I knew he was watching from the forest to the east of the flower field and I knew he would report to Danzo either way the mission went._

 _Was there a way out?_

 _"Here, Poli." Unclenching my fist, I realized I had crumpled the young, dead sunflower. Three of its leaves were torn off from it, leaving only 9 bent petals left. Grabbing the limp, green stem, I lifted it up to Poli's hair and tucked it in a strand behind her right ear._

 _"This is so cute, Rei! Thanks! Oh, I should get you one!" She thought aloud, suddenly. Her big, brown eyes were sparkling with happiness, but why? Doesn't this child have any friends in school? Why was she so excited to hang out with me?_

 _"Ah... Poli, you don't ha-" Poli skipped off anyway, ignoring me. Now was my chance. While her back was turned, looking for a flower for me, I could..._

 _There had to be a way out._

 _I've killed before, but never someone this innocent or young. I guess Danzo really wanted to know if my heart was really into it. Seeing as how I didn't have the audacity to kill this girl, I guessed Root wasn't my calling. Busting drug cartels or conspirators against the Hokage wasn't a problem, seeing as how those missions made sense to carry out. But this one...? Killing someone's daughter to have them step down from being a politician? This wasn't right._

 _As if sensing my distaste at killing an innocent, Sai stepped out of the tree foliage, into the meadow. Crossing his arms, he stared at me, silently waiting for the killing blow. Poli hadn't seen him, seeing as how he blended in with the black shadows of the forest behind him._

 _"I found it!" Poli yelled, standing up and running back to me. When she arrived, she held a closed fist up and opened it, revealing three bluebonnets. Kneeling down, I felt her tiny fingers work the flowers into my hair with a little difficulty, but she got it._

 _"They match your eyes... Do you like them?" She asked, twirling her arms around in circles and watching in fascination as her dress lifted up and fluttered in a circle before falling back down again. Smiling, I crinkled my eyes and grabbed one of her swaying hands._

 _"I love them, Poli-chan. Thank yo-" I was interrupted by a substance splattering across my face. Feeling the pulse within her wrist stop, I opened my eyes, worried._

 _Before me, Poli was laying on the ground, not moving. A kunai was embedded in her head and one of her brown braids had blood splattered all over it. Her yellow tank top had droplets of red splashed across it. Poli's large, doe eyes were staring up at the sky, not moving and her mouth rested in a faint, closed-mouth smile._

 _Bringing a hand to my mouth, my eyes watered at the sight. Still holding her hand, I placed it on her chest along with her other one. Feeling a chakra signature walk up to the scene, I looked up, angry at the culprit._

 _"Why'd you do that?!" I shouted, voice cracking and chest feeling tight. Sai simply watched with his uncaring, black eyes. Removing the kunai from her head, he wiped it on her clothes before putting it back in his weapons holster._

 _"It was our mission." Standing up, I looked upon Poli's corpse with sadness filling my heart. Her corpse surrounded by flowers. Red, blue, yellow, purple, the flowers helped hide the blood red color, but not a lot. Before I did anything else, I closed her eyes._

 _"Have you ever stopped to ask why?" I questioned, lowering my head. The tears that had threatened to spill a minute ago had disappeared and in their place, was anger. Hearing Sai pause, I knew I'd get an answer._

 _"Why would I?" His smooth, deep voice rang out. "A missions a mission. There's no changing that." Forcing myself to look away from Poli's body, I turned and looked at her killer instead. He didn't show any emotion to killing the young girl. Just like Danzo wanted._

 _"What's the point?" I whispered, walking away. Yanking my mask from Sai's hand, I put it on my face, but didn't start running back. Instead, I observed the meadow of flowers that seemed to go on forever. Standing at my side, Sai looked as well, his mask now on._

 _"I'm starting to question your loyalty towards Root." Briefly glancing at the dark-haired man, I sighed deeply, easing some pain from Poli's death._

 _"Are you threatening me?" I asked, layering on new meaning to my words. What could he do to me? I could leave this organization when I wanted to and nobody could stop me. Not even Sai, my partner for over four years now._

 _"One less traitor to worry about."_

 _"She was a person, you know. She had a life and a family."_

 _"What do you care?" He asked back, glancing at my lonely, smiling mask. He knew Danzo had tried to crush the ever living emotion in me, but he knew that wouldn't change an immortal._

 _"A person's a person, no matter how small," I stated, quoting "Horton Hears A Who". After I said that, Sai didn't reply and we returned to Konoha in silence. It took much less time to arrive at the village because over the years, I had built up my endurance to not get tired with long runs. Marathon runs became triathlons, push-ups became finger push-ups, wasting time was exterminated, as was most of the members' emotions_.

Danzo had mostly gotten rid of my insanity problem and for that, I was grateful. Now, I had a mostly clear head, safe from dark thoughts. He had also suggested that I see my immortality as a gift instead of a curse, but that wasn't happening. So I acted like it was a gift, just to get Danzo off my back.

The mission to kill Poli was a month ago and I was currently residing in my small room, staring at the dried up flowers she had put in my hair that layed on the small dresser near my bed. In a few minutes I had to be in Danzo's office for a mission briefing.

7:24 a.m.

Groaning, I plopped on my bed and checked my weapon pouch for the fifth time today. Couldn't the clock go any faster...?

.

.

.

7:25 a.m.

Rolling off the poor quality bed, I didn't bother catching myself and landed on the wooden floor that seemed to cover nearly all of Root. I had found out last year that a guy named Yamato was responsible for this, seeing as how he could bend wood, like the Avatar or something. Wait, could the Avatar bend wood? It had been so long since I'd seen an episode...

.

.

.

7:26 a.m.

Lazily lifting my white-haired head, I caught sight of the digital clock on my dresser and sighed, dropping my head back onto the clean floor that I dusted every week. Like the orphanage, Danzo didn't tolerate dirtiness and had everyone clean their rooms once a week.

Seeing as 7:27 didn't want to appear on my clock, I got up and walked into the bathroom, stopping in front of the mirror. Danzo didn't approve us looking into the mirrors, since appearance was apparently tied to emotion? The guy's paranoid.

My hair has grown to halfway down my back and now reminded me of when I was a young Kabucha attending the Academy. I now had a small chest that was barely there because of training so hard. My arms were long and muscular and my legs were even longer with gracious curves complementing them. Now 16, I knew my growth would stop, but I was still hoping to grow a couple more inches. Other than the tiny hill on my chest, I didn't have any other curves. I don't know... had my butt gotten bigger? That wasn't something I could tell, but I didn't care about.

What I hated most, were the freckles that had gotten darker and now lightly sprinkled themselves across my nose.

Stepping out of the bathroom, I checked the time and grabbed my mask next to the small, rectangular clock.

7:28 a.m.

Opening and shutting my door, I waited for a second before deciding that Sai wouldn't show. That was odd. He usually showed to go to a mission briefing together. Waiting for a moment, I opened my room's door and checked the time again.

7:29 a.m.

Oh well. I guess I'd have to go without him. Danzo would be mad at him for not showing, but I didn't want the same punishment.

Making chakra flow to my legs, I shunshined into Danzo's office. That was literally the only time when I would shunshin: going to and from Danzo's office. I hated doing it because it caused tunnel vision 98% of the time.

To my surprise, Sai and another guy, an older guy, were already in Danzo's office. The guy had dark brown hair, from what I could tell. He was a little shorter than me, maybe by a centimeter? Yeah, I payed attention to things like that; after all, I had to know who the taller person in the room was. As far as I knew, I was the tallest person in Root.

"Kyoki," Danzo stated, nodding his head to me. Bowing, I silently wondered why nobody else has their mask on.

"You are allowed to remove your mask," Danzo stated and I did so. I didn't hate the mask, I just felt like a sneaky person when I wore it. Clapping it to my belt, I stood up straight. Not taking my eyes off Danzo, I kept a straight and neutral face; the man hated it when I didn't.

"Who is this, Danzo-sama?" The older guy asked. His voice was much deeper than Sai's, but not as deep as I remembered Shino's voice. Since he openly spoke to Danzo, I could only assume that he was one of the higher-ups.

"This, is the girl I told you about, Kyoki." Since I was standing next to Sai and since I was only looking at Danzo, I couldn't see the guy's reaction.

"Kyoki, this is Yamato. I expect you to listen and obey him at all times," Danzo ordered, but I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Wasn't I only supposed to serve Danzo? Why was I serving Yamato, the guy who given Root the wooden floors?

"Yes, Danzo-sama. Is this a joint mission?" I questioned, before looking down in boredom.

"Yes. Team Seven went on a mission to help Suna recover from an attack. During the mission, Hatake Kakashi used his Sharingan too many times and is now recovering in the hospital. Since Team Seven doesn't currently have a leader, Yamato will step up to the position. You and Sai will be on the team temporarily, acting as another team that also lost a member." And blah, blah, blah... These mission briefing lasted way too long sometimes. Ending with telling us not to talk about Root, Danzo dismissed us.

Running as a pack, the three of us made record time in making it to the Hokage's office. I'd been informed about the new Hokage when I'd joined Root, but no one had told me who had made Chuunin. This would be my first time seeing her, as Danzo had been careful about letting me walk around in public.

"These brats are the new members of Team Seven?" Tsunade growled as we entered her office. The new Hokage had blond hair to her shoulders and wore a tan colored outfit. The most distinguishing feature about her though, were her boobs, which made me feel very self-conscious.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," her black-haired assistant answered, looking down at the clipboard she was holding. "Kyoki and Sai."

"Naruto, Sakura! Get your asses in here!" She yelled, hurting my ears. Not to my surprise, Yamato and Sai didn't do anything to show that they cared about her distaste for us. I knew who Team Seven was, but I was more curious to see how they've grown over the years rather than what I would say to them.

The door opened and two familiar heads of yellow and pink hair walked in. Naruto had grown a couple of inches and so had Sakura, though Sakura had more of a chest than I did. Seeing Naruto frown at Sai, I could only wonder what the dark-haired shinobi had done to deserve that. Much to my surprise, Sakura was studying me with a curious, green-eyed gaze.

Not that I cared.

"These are our new teammates?" Naruto asked, flatly. The banter went back and forth between Sai and Naruto and I think Tsunade started yelling at some point. The only part that I actually payed attention to was when Sai called Tsunade "boobs." At that point, Yamato had apologized for his behavior and the new Team Seven walked out of the Hokage's office with a new mission.

We were supposed to meet someone at a bridge in a couple days and Yamato was posing as Sasori of the Sand. As a reward for killing him, Sasori told Sakura of an important meeting and we were going to intercept whoever was there. Maybe they had told us who our target was, but I hadn't payed attention. I had been too focused on counting how many times Naruto called Sai a bastard and had only talked when I had to introduce myself.

And what was up with Yamato? He didn't look like he was pleased to be near Danzo and I could tell he didn't like it. Maybe he was more loyal to Tsunade or something, but that wasn't possible. Since he served under Danzo, didn't he have a seal at the back of his tongue, too? Or did he even serve Danzo? I had heard that he gave Root its wooden floors, but that's about all I knew about him. In fact, I bet he only stood in front of Danzo, because he had to introduce us. I had noticed that Danzo hadn't mentioned my immortality and had sent Yamato away when he told us not to talk about Root.

I'd have to ask him. In fac-

"Hey, you!" Someone shouted. Snapping out of my daze, I looked up from where I was laying on the ground. Sakura?

"Yeah?" I replied, uncaring. Her face took on an annoyed look and she stomped her foot, pink hair swaying with the breeze.

"Why're you so lazy? We have to leave in an hour and you're just laying around?"

"Lying," I said, correcting her.

"I- what?"

"It's "lying around," and since we leave in an hour, I'm conserving my energy." We were currently in a training ground, but I'm not sure which one. I hadn't payed a whole lot of attention.

"We're getting Sasuke back. You better not slow us down. You and Sai... You two could never replace hi-" Getting up, I moved six feet to the right and lied back down.

A tall person needed a tall nap. Wait...

That didn't make any sense.


	26. Power

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews, Thomas Drovin and others! Thanks for all the favorites and follows as well! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 26**

And so we were off, though where we were going, I didn't know. I had brought an extra copy of The Holocaust to pass the time, because believe it or not, Sai and I were forced to walk, courtesy of Captain Yamato. I was currently reading my book, while the other three stared ahead at the trees.

Why was I on this team, I wondered, flipping to the next page. Teams were usually composed of three people and Sai was the best replacement for Sasuke, hell, he even looked like him. Plus, they both sucked at conversations, as far as I could tell.

Even while I read, I could tell there was tension between the team. Sakura and Naruto had been staring at Sai and I for the past hour. Growing bored of the book, I tucked into my weapon pouch; after all, I had written the thing. I guess I could work on my tangible chakra.

Throughout the years, I had mastered the basic three and learned tons of fire Jutsu, though I only used half of my arsenal. I'd forgotten the other half and had written them down on a scroll somewhere.

"Can you stop that?" Sai asked, directing his complaint at Naruto. Turning my head, I noticed the way Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sai, as if he was the enemy.

"You'll never be a part of this team," Naruto replied, almost growling his answer. This wasn't him. What happened to the Naruto that I knew? What happened to the sweet boy fresh out of the Academy?

"And why not?" My dark-haired partner questioned, turning his head to look at Naruto with his black eyes.

"What's your problem?" I voiced, interrupting whatever Naruto was going to say. Making eye contact with the blonde, blue met blue in a hateful stare-down, daring the other to look away.

"You're my problem," Naruto answered, "You won't replace Sasuke. Not now, not ever." At this, Yamato stopped his eavesdropping and fully stopped, before turning around to meet his new students.

"That's not the way to treat teammates, Naruto," the Captain remarked, warning the blonde not to cross the line. Also stopping his trek, Naruto fully looked at the both of us, along with a watchful Sakura. I'd have to be mindful of her; if I'd learned anything these past couple of years, it's that you don't underestimate someone, ever. Kind of like how Danzo underestimated me.

"Why would you compare me to that rodent? You know, people that betray their village are terrible," Sai reminded, a faint smile working across his face. Of course, after working together for three or four years now, I knew it was fake; all of it. Seeing him clench his fists, I knew that comment was what had set Naruto off.

"Who do you think you are?!" He yelled, causing nearby birds to abandon their perches. Before he could attack, he was stopped by Sakura, who held out a hand to him.

"Stop. We need to use teamwork and this isn't helping. Remember what Kakashi-sensei taught us?" I guessed more than one person had changed. Instead of being whiny for Sasuke,-who had left- she was now more focused on the mission and training. She was smiling, too, so she was cool.

"It isn't just him, you know," she added, interrupting my thoughts, which composed of the Star Wars theme song. Before I knew it, she had punched Sai into next year, completely knocking him a few feet away. Realizing that she would punch me next, I let her. I technically couldn't get hurt and Sakura didn't need any wounded pride.

Pressure suddenly increasing ten-fold in my face, my body was sent hurtling back. Skidding along the beaten, dirt road, I settled to a stop a little bit away from Sai.

"You will never replace him!" Sakura yelled, voice a few octaves higher than normal. Putting my hands under me, I lifted my chest and head to reveal a pissed off Sakura with her fist up and another holding Naruto back. Naruto, bless his heart, looked like he was going to lose it with all the things Sai said about the missing-nin.

"Now, that's enough," Yamato commanded, turned around and watching the scene with wide, almond-shaped eyes.

"If you ever speak bad about Sasuke again, I'll do more than put you in the ground, got it?!" Sakura threatened, a wild look appearing in her green eyes.

"Why'd you do it to me?" I asked, feigning innocence. For a brief second, Sai and Sakura's eyes narrowed before reverting to the normal look they had had before.

"Well... You're with him, aren't you?" The pinkette replied, seeming confused at my question. Behind her, Naruto had calmed down a tad and was now watching Sai and I slowly get up with a hateful look in his eye.

"You... punched me without a reason?" I said slowly, making it seem like I didn't understand Sakura's logic. I wouldn't have done the same; I would've found it hilarious and then killed them later. Sai and I both knew that being on a team with someone outside of Root was running a high security risk, even though we were elites.

I wouldn't call myself an elite, compared to Orochimaru and Danzo. They were legends compared to me. Sai and I were measured at around low jounin levels, what, with our taijutsu and ninjutsu. I had specifically asked for a simple genjutsu, to show people what my world was like and such.

But now, now Yamato was in our presence and I suspected he had been ordered to keep an eye on someone, though I'm not sure who.

"So you're with him!" She stated, ending the conversation. By the time Sai and I had gotten to our feet, Yamato had summoned a large, wooden cage and threatened to lock us up in it for the entire day. That shut the two blockheads up.

As we continued walking along the road, I noticed blades of grass sprouting out of the ground in clumps and was reminded of the only time I had attended the Festival of Lights.

 _The caretaker had let us leave only with someone watching us, seeing as it was a very special day. Temou had swooped in immediately and taken me from the orphanage to explore the village._

 _Konoha was illuminated by hues of red, yellow, and orange, tonight. The various different types of lanterns hung everywhere and anywhere, lighting up Konohagakure, similar to a sunset. Shops had redecorated in favor of being booths for kids and adults alike. Nobody was inside, for everyone was outside, enjoying the cool night air that drifted through the dirt roads that twisted and turned in every other direction throughout Konoha._

 _Closing my eyes, I reminisced about the times my father had taken me to the fair. Instead of a Ferris wheel, there was a decorated Academy with lanterns hung in every nook possible. Except for my father... I had Temou._

 _Who was just as good..._

 _"Huh?" Temou wondered, bending down to my 5'4 height. "Are you alright, Kabucha?" Feeling a dull ache deep within me, I opened my eyes, already teary from the memory of my father._

 _"I'm... fine," I replied, sniffling out my answer. For some reason or another, Temou had the compassion and attitude of my dad._

 _"Kabucha..." He cooed, embracing me in a hug, which made the dull throb, not so dull anymore. It now reverberated in me and my eyes watered, however much I tried to keep the waterworks back. "Why are you sad? It's the Festival of Lights, you should be happy." Wrapping my arms around the tall man before me, I watched the scene behind him with glossy eyes._

 _People were hugging and dancing and kissing other people. People that treated me in a not very nice way. These same people passed Temou and I with glares set in their eyes and stone hearts._

 _"Thanks, Temou," I whispered with my tiny, kid voice that I hated. When he chuckled, Temou split us apart and looked at me in the eye._

 _"For what, Kabucha? To me, you are a..." He paused, contemplating if he should say something or not. "... nevermind. Hey, cheer up! I'll pay for a couple games, okay? And, and afterwards, we can watch the fireworks! Won't that be fun?" He asked in a cheerful, upbeat voice, trying to make my tears disappear. I recognized what he was doing; I had often used that tone when I had babysat._

 _"Yeah, yeah, let's go!" I exclaimed, startling the crouched man. Big smiles appearing on both of our faces, we found a photographer selling photos._

Because I was now a part of Root, I couldn't talk to Temou as a friend but it was okay, since I got to talk to him sometimes as a customer. Of course, there were places that Danzo couldn't see, so I made small talk with the weapon shop owner from time to time. It went against 'no emotions,' but in the end, who cares?

Throughout the years, I had had doubts about if Root was really the solution to helping Konoha prosper. The Poli Mission had shown me just how far Danzo was willing to go to "help" Konoha and I didn't want to help Danzo "help" Konoha anymore. What if it had been Tobi? I hadn't even been able to kill Poli, so how was I going to do this for the rest of my life?

As the sun shone high and bright in the sky, I decided that I needed to do good deeds to make up for all the pain I had caused throughout the four years I was in Root. I wondered if Sai felt the same way? Maybe not; he was, after all, starting to grasp the concept of relationships and how to distinguish the difference between the different types.

As much as it irritated Danzo, I still retained my sense of humanity and how to properly distinguish and retain emotions. Everything he punished me, it was usually a timed run, but with others, he beat them until he was sure they had "learned" their lesson. Afterwards, they went to the medic.

It wasn't that I was a suck-up to Danzo. In fact, I think I received the most punishments in Root history. How do you punish an immortal?

You make them run laps 'till they're about to collapse.

Watching Sai walk in front of me, I remembered out times in Root. Since we were partners, we had executed missions together, but he had never wanted to do anything fun. Wonder who's fault that was?

"Do you guys want to play a game?" I asked, bored out of my mind. Walking along a dirt road was something I wasn't used; Sai and I always ran on our missions.

Forgetting the earlier fight, Naruto's eyes lit up, while Sakura looked confused. Yamato and Sai looked like they couldn't care less.

"No," Yamato answered courtly, crushing Naruto's excitement.

"Ah, why not, Captain Yamato?" He whined, forgetting he was older than ten. Rolling her eyes, Sakura bonked him on the head.

"We're supposed to be professional, Naruto," Sakura replied, crossing her arms. Sighing, I decided that maybe these people weren't my speed. After asking Sai for a pen and paper, it was silent after that.

Sticking my tongue out of my mouth, I tried to remember some Dr. Seuss poems for the road and wrote them down, using nothing as support for the paper but part of one of my hands. I wrote with the other.

-I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100%.

Dangit. How is it that the only thing I remembered was something from Horton Hears A Who? Ugh, I guess I'll just write down any rhymes that I remembered.

-'Twas the night before Christmas... all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

-Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. Jack jumped over the candle stick.

Giving the pen back to Sai, I thanked him and read over what I had jotted down, distastefully wishing I had a better memory. Knowing someone would get mad at me singing or humming, I decided to walk in step with a beat. Lazily, but coordinating arms brushed against my sides in a side beat. I was pretty sure Yamato realized what I was doing, but he hadn't told me to stop, so it was okay.

 _Sai's P.O.V._

When I saw Sakura punch Kyoki, I knew Kyoki was still acting. My partner had grown powerful over the years we had been assigned together, but she always thought she was weak. "I need to get strong," she would say, but I think both of us knew this was a lie.

Kyoki had developed very fast reflexes, though I don't know what type of training she had gone through to achieve this great feat. When I asked her what it was like, she had said that "the world slowed down." While this only happened to me while I shunshined, it happened to Kyoki forever, never-ending. The other thing she had developed, was her chakra. As she was immortal, Kyoki never ran out of chakra, but I still didn't understand it, seeing as how normal attacks could kill her.

Her chakra was a loud, painful buzzing when I concentrated on it. Danzo's was this way, too, but something... was off with her chakra. The way she could manipulate it outside her body, make it tangible, was an achievement for Root, seeing as how nobody had thought of this before. In the blink of an eye, her chakra would coil around her, in waves of grey. Before anyone knew what had happened, she could lift you off your feet, or choke you to death with these coils. For some reason, she wanted to be able to channel lightning and get into people's heads with this same technique.

Normally, this technique was far too chakra consuming, but my immortal partner had unlimited chakra.

I always made sure to remind her who was in charge on missions, but we both knew she could kill me if she wanted to, and I was afraid for this. No matter how many years I had gone through to make sure I had no emotion, this girl from another world kept me on edge and extremely cautious around her.

The other development of Kyoki, was her transformations and clones. While she claimed to never posses knowledge of Shadow Clone Jutsu, she's able to make equivalent clones to the Jutsu. What was different about her clones and Shadow Clones, was that when her clones got hit, they didn't leave.

They left when she told them to leave.

Us getting paired together wasn't a coincidence. Danzo had put me with her to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't kill anything out of madness. Sadly, this wasn't the case. On our first mission together, she had been the one to kill the target. Even as he pleaded for her not to, even as he begged us to listen, even as he offered us an alliance with his thugs...

She had watched with uneven eyebrows and bored, blue eyes, as he attempted to crawl away from where she had crippled him.

I had to step in because his screams of pain would've attracted unwanted attention. Her intent had never been to kill him, oh no; she had been torturing him.

Even now, her madness was still very, very there.

So when I saw Kyoki let Sakura punch her, I knew she had to be planning something, but I didn't know what. As I watched her roll to a stop a couple of feet away from me, I was reminded of the power that this tall girl possessed.

 _Finally. We had finally tracked down the crime lord. Since this was an undercover mission, we both wore black cloaks that showed our faces. In front of us, the door to the crime lord's office sat._

 _Behind us, was a bloodbath. Bodies strewn everywhere and heads could be seen without a body. We had both been guilty._

 _Before I could say or do anything, Kyoki held up a hand towards the door. When her restrained chakra suddenly surged through her hand and out of the outstretched fingertips, grey, smoke-like matter could be seen smashing the door open. Residing back into her hand, Kyoki lowered her hand to her side and stepped through the doorway that once held a door._

 _"We could've knocked," I remarked, imitating Kyoki's joking nature that I sometimes saw. Not responding, Kyoki scanned the office and discovered a chair swiveled around at a desk. Discovering this as well, I grabbed her arm, restraining her from murdering him, like she had the last target._

 _"You've finally found me," a voice said, coming from the chair. "I congratulate you, shinobi of Konoha." Letting go of Kyoki's arm, I stepped into the room as well, shoes crunching on small pieces of the shattered, oak door._

 _"Do you have a reason for why we shouldn't kill you?" Kyoki asked, voice suddenly slow, eyes steel. Swiveling the chair around, we saw a short man with a balding head and glasses on his pudgy, round face._

 _"I knew by killing a few civilians, that Konohagakure would send someone to stop the threat. But I didn't know it was a bunch of weaklings." Knowing Kyoki was all too happy to use her new powers on him, I held up a hand to her, stopping her from killing the man._

 _"Why did you want to speak to us?" I asked, calmly, trying to ignore Kyoki's growing irritation. Smiling, the short man stood up from his spinning, brown chair and made a handsign, before a poof of smoke replaced him with someone Kyoki's height. He had a well-shaped face and would be viewed as handsome to females._

 _"I wanted to know who that damn Hokage would send and want to make an... offer... if you're up for it?" Nodding my head, I signaled for him to continue._

 _"Seeing as you two aren't regular ninja, I'm assuming you work for someone who hates the Hokage, am I right?"_

 _"The point?" Kyoki replied, an irritated look flashing across her face._

 _"I like a girl with attitude," the crime lord commented, licking his lips. "Anyways, for 40,000 ryo a week, I want protection so I can continue my... experiments."_

 _Before he could say anything else, thin, whispy, grey, see-through, smoke-like tendrils wrapped sharply around his neck and lifted him in the air. Glancing to my left, I saw Kyoki standing there, holding up her right hand with a semi-gripping hand._

 _"No deal." The part that scared me wasn't her low and slow voice; there was no killing intent. Instead, there was a calmness in the room, almost the type of calm that people experienced on a cool day when they relaxed in the middle of training grounds and the sun was shining down on them._

 _A stomach-lurching crack reverberated throughout the room and Kyoki dropped her hand, letting the crime lord's lifeless body fall to the floor in a pathetic heap._


	27. Strings

**AN: Thanks so much to Thomas Drovin and randomy for reviewing! It means a lot. Also, thank you to everyone who's followed or favorited this story! Any questions, concerns, congratulatory statements, love confessions, anything like that, please review or tell me something you liked about the story. Who knows, maybe you'll see it again. I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 27**

At long last we had arrived at the inn. How strange, to call a hotel an 'inn.' It sounded so... old-timey. Anyways, we had arrived a few hours after Yamato had summoned that big, wooden cage. After finding out there was a jacuzzi or a hot spring or a bathhouse or a public pool, Team Seven had immediately retreated to the hot waters after claiming our room.

The... jacuzzi was separated into two sections: boys and girls, for obvious reasons. The very idea of stripping naked astonished me, for I've never been given the pleasure of enjoying such a relaxing place. The orphanage didn't have that much money and paying for a... bathhouse (that's the word) was expensive.

After seeing me yawn, Sakura watched me carefully for any red-flag signs. I had let my long, white ponytail down and was currently enjoying the feel of hot water soaking into my scalp.

"Are you okay?" I asked, glad that the hot water and steam covered up any signs of anyone being naked. Snapping her eyes to the water's surface, she tried to seem inconspicuous, but obviously failed.

"Yeah," the pinkette responded, though it wasn't in a happy tone. Dipping my head underwater, I tried to ignore her obvious dislike for me.

It wasn't my fault, I had realized long ago. Sakura and Naruto were just... like that. They didn't accept the change and didn't want it, either. When this mission had been assigned to me, I had been... elated?

No, that wasn't the word.

I had been... in anticipation. Curious, but not overly fond of receiving the mission.

With that being said, I pushed the thoughts aside and emerged from the warm water, face red from the temperature. After scraping the dirt and sweat off with soap on the side of the pool, I leaned back on one of the steps of the bath and lightly sung a song from my church days.

"He's got the whole world, in his hands. He's got the whole world, in his hands. He's got the whole, wide world, in his hands, He's got the whole world in his hands," I chanted, noting that Sakura's eyes got a little narrower, but I don't think it was from the condensation dripping off her brow.

Would the feud ever end between us?

After about 30 minutes of soaking, Sakura got out and told me she'd be in the room. Who cares? 'Cause I didn't.

Closing my eyes, I hummed You Are My Sunshine to myself, quietly, as to not disturb the other people in the bath. Briefly, I remembered the moments when singing had helped me in my life.

 _XXX_

 _With Tobi_

 _XXX_

 _"Tobi, don't beat yourself up about it. You're not going to get it on the first try," I assured, watching the young, blonde boy as tears poured down his face. Bloodshot eyes widening, his blue pupils centered on me, unsettling me at the very least._

 _"But, Kabucha! You're amazing! I want to be as good as you!" He yelled, slumping on the swiveling chair in the barn. We had just finished our first day of practice and so far, Tobi was being extremely hard on himself. He had passed out twice today from exhausting his body and pushing himself to his limits._

 _"Shh..." Calming the child down, I wrapped my arms around him, hesitantly wondering if this is what I was supposed to do._

 _"I... suck." Upon hearing these words, I only embraced him tighter and started rubbing his back._

 _"You... don't suck, Tobi..." When I heard the child calming down, I suggested that we lie in the hay, to 'relax' and 'clear our heads.'_

 _"You are my sunshine," I started, glancing at Tobi's exhausted figure next to me. Seeing that he hadn't reacted, I continued._

 _"My only sunshine. You make me happy, on skies of grey. You never know, dear, how much I love you, so please don't take my sun-"_

 _"Kabucha," Tobi interrupted. Turning my head, I discovered that he was staring at the barn's ceiling with unreadable eyes._

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"I'm not a baby." Also looking at the ceiling, a light smile lazily made its way to my face, no doubt from the need to be mature from Tobi._

 _"Alright."_

 _XXX_

 _2nd Day in Konohagakure_

 _XXX_

 _"It's been a long day... without you my friend, but I'll tell you all about it when... I... see you again," I sang, weakly, pausing in between the lyrics to sniffle and wipe my nose. The full reality had finally hit me; I would never see my family again._

 _And now, I was walking home from the Academy, alone. Naruto had gone off to pull a prank, oblivious to my anguish and sorrow. My small, childish body racked with sobs as memories of my family came to me with each tear rolling down my cheek. It was difficult not to yell and sob and scream. I never knew I'd miss them so damn much._

 _Right now, I should be riding the bus home from highschool._

 _Right now, I should be eating an orange and getting ready for volleyball practice, while worrying about homework later on that night._

 _Right now, I should be in National Honor Society._

 _But right now, I was walking to an orphanage, alone and forgotten. I could tell that multiple people thought I was strange and in a way, I think a few of them took pity on me._

 _"We've come a long way from where we began, oh I'll tell you all about it when I see yo-"_

 _"Quit whining, brat," a woman sneered, watching me trudged towards my new home. Lowering my head, I passed her with a, "yes, ma'am." From then on, I kept silent and tried to navigate through this new place without talking to anyone._

 _"Are you okay?" A young-sounding voice asked me. Looking up through my tear filled, brown eyes, I spotted someone from my class. He was the one with the dark hair and even darker eyes with the blue shirt and pants on. Behind him stood a carbon copy, only a little older and with longer hair and two wrinkles underneath his eyes._

 _"I... I'm sad." Not bothering to scold myself, I had said the only thing that made sense to these people._

 _"Why? You seem kinda weird in class," my classmate stated, crossing his arms and watching me with a curious expression on his young, chubby face._

 _"Ototo," the older kid said, butting in. Standing next to "Ototo," he leaned down, so we were equal height._

 _"Itachi! She's weird!" 'Ototo' repeated, nudging his brother. The uncanny resemblance was uncanny, but I didn't really care, not right now, anyway. My family was gone, my world was gone, and volleyball was... gone._

 _"I liked that song you were singing. It's very pretty," Itachi finally commented, ignoring his younger brother's mean, yet naive remarks about me. Realizing that this guy was trying to make me feel better, I sniffed and lightly smiled, boosting my mood very little._

 _At least there were kind people here._

 _"Can you sing it for us?" He asked, softly, looking into my bloodshot, blue eyes._

 _"Itachi-ani!" My classmate interjected, but Itachi poked him in the forehead and told him to be quiet._

 _"It's been a long day, without you my friend... and I'll tell you all about it when I see you again..." On and on I went, pausing occasionally to sob or heave a breath. Strangely, Itachi acted like he didn't notice, but I assumed that he was one of the polite ones in the village. His brother on the other hand, made faces when I had to pause and cry and I forgave him, for he was young and unaware of how to treat others._

 _When I finished what I remembered of See You Again, Itachi patted my head with a small smile adorning his face._

 _"You're very talented. May I ask why you're crying, though?" He questioned, tilting his head to seem less intimidating._

 _So, he was aware of how body language affected others. I thought I was the only one, seeing as how the kids in my class didn't give a damn if I felt left out._

 _Instead of answering, I stared into Itachi's eyes for a good, long while. 'Ototo' kept tugging at Itachi's shirt, but no matter what, Itachi never broke eye contact with me, as if trying to see into my mind for what was ailing me. I searched his eyes for any hidden emotion and compared how the eyebrows were arranged on his face, looking for any indication of what he was thinking as well, but this Itachi was very good at concealing his true nature and controlling his facial expression._

 _"I..." I finally started, but didn't know what to say. "I'm... I'm sad." Chastising myself for repeating what I had said earlier, I waited for Itachi's reaction on my repetition._

 _"Did someone hurt you?" He pressed, eyebrows raising slightly in concern, but his voice staying the same; neutral._

 _"No," I answered, finally stopping the tear flow, temporarily. His eyebrows dipped slightly and his light smile quickly changed into a thin line on his mouth, going straight across._

 _"You're not lying," he stated, analyzing my tear-stained face with sharp eyes that looked like they never missed a detail. Giving up on trying to get his brother's attention, 'Ototo' looked back at me with a confused and slightly worried look._

 _"If nobody hurt you, then why're you crying?" Gulping, I sighed quickly and plastered a fake smile on my face, not wanting to take up their time any more than I already had._

 _"I'm not sad anymore, haha! Singing that song has made me... so happy!" I exclaimed, shocking 'Ototo' with my sudden enthusiastic voice, but Itachi's face was remaining neutral with slightly bent eyebrows. So, he didn't buy the act, so what?_

 _"See, Itachi? She's not sad, now let's go!" 'Ototo' demanded, recovering from my strange outburst of energy. Finally complying to his younger brother's wishes, Itachi stood up._

 _"Say goodbye, Ototo." Huffing, 'Ototo' uncrossed his arms and looked at his feet._

 _"Bye, Kabucha-san," 'Ototo' mumbled, not bothering to look at my face. Waving a small hand at the dark-haired brothers, I kept the same smile upon my face, not wanting to worry anyone anymore._

 _"Bye!" I hurriedly repeated, trying to seem cheered up. Apparently, it seemed to have worked, because Itachi and his brother left, but not before Itachi studied me carefully with his onyx black eyes._

 _After they left, a couple tears escaped my eyes again, but not as much as before._

 _"Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I..." Biting my lip, I clenched my hands and looked to my shoes, not wanting my tears to be too obvious._

 _"When I see you again."_

 _XXX_

 _Yamanaka Compound/ Team Ten Days_

 _XXX_

 _"Here's the thing, we started out friends..." I started, standing on Ino's carpet floor, hairbrush in hand. It was just Ino and I in I_ no's _room, hanging out after a team practice. Choji and Shikamaru were hanging out at Choji's place for the rest of the day and Ino and I decided to have a little girl time._

 _"And all you ever here me say, is how I picture me with you..." Ino continued, a hairbrush also in her hand, leading up to the duo part. I had taught her Kelly Clarkson's, Since U Been Gone, yesterday after practice and now, we were finally singing it together._

 _"I can't breathe for the first time...!" We both sung into our imaginary microphones._

 _And in that moment, when we finished the song together, it made me realize that hanging out with Ino was an experience I had never had. Everyone in the old world had never bothered to come to any of my parties or meet-ups, much to my disappointment. In the old world, my only friends had been my parents and teammates on my team._

 _Now, I realized that in this world, nobody would do that._

 _Nobody would put me off._

 _Nobody would bury their noses into their phones._

 _Nobody would forget me._

"Hey, wake up!" Sakura yelled, startling me. Snapping my eyes open, I realized I had fallen asleep in the bath and it was now cold and abandoned. Grabbing the large, white towel that Sakura was holding next to the bath, I got out and wrapped myself in it, thanking her quickly.

"Captain Yamato sent me to get you, since the meal's cooling down. Now, get dressed and hurry up!" She ordered, pointing to a grey robe she had deposited on a nearby chair.

After getting dressed, we both walked to the room in silence.

"How nice of you to grace us with your presence," Yamato said as we walked in the room. Shutting the door, I turned around and discovered a delicacy of delights awaiting us on the short, wooden, probably collapsable table the staff had set up. Taking my seat at the end of the table, separating Yamato and Sakura, I chuckled a tad.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting," I apologized, bowing my head slightly. Naruto and Sakura grumbled, while Yamato and Sai nodded their heads to show there was no harm done. Picking up my chopsticks, I couldn't decide what to eat first.

Before I ate anything, I glanced at what the others were eating, to see what I should try. Sakura was enjoying something with lobster on it and looked elated. Naruto was digging in without really tasting anything, or that's what it looked like to me. Sai, like Sakura, was taking his time and enjoying each bite of food.

For some reason, when I looked at Yamato, he was staring at me, not eating. Realizing he's been caught, he averted his gaze to the feast in front of him, but I kept staring.

So, it had been me that he had to watch? Or was it Naruto? Maybe Sai? Dare I suggest Sakura? Had the others caught him staring at them? Or maybe Yamato was staring at me for my beauty?

Nah.

Finally turning my stare to the food, I decided to try the crab first. Picking up my chopsticks, I ate a piece of crab sushi. Chewing and chewing, I didn't bother trying to really down the thing, for I was testing myself to see if I could identify what was in it. Crab, seaweed, some... type of paste, and... a couple seeds. This was new. When did someone put seeds in sushi? The only times I'd had it was in a famous seafood place in Austin, Texas. I guess Japanese culture changed the food here, too.

"Are seeds common in sushi?" I asked, spitting them into my palm. Looking up from where she'd been eating, Sakura gave me a puzzled look before shrugging.

"I found some in my sushi, too. I ate them, but they didn't have much taste." When she returned to eating, I stared at the seeds, closely, before deciding they were probably like sunflower seeds and throwing them back into my mouth.

After finishing with the meal, we brushed our teeth and shut off the lights. Now lying on my yoga mat thing, I wondered lots of things.

How much could I carry with my tangible chakra? If I did it correctly, I should be able to lift things depending on how strong my mind was. Breaking someone's neck was laughably easy once I had figured out how to and I was starting to question if my "Jutsu" had a limit, seeing as how I had unlimited chakra.

What do I do with the Root situation? Should I wait until they give me a terrible mission, like the Poli Mission and then question Danzo's motives? I couldn't be the only one to doubt the helpfulness of the missions. Surely Sai had realized that this was wrong? Well... Sai told me he had been raised like that and from what I can tell, he wasn't shy about killing innocents. And what about Yamato...? I'd have to look into this later.

What was Sakura and Naruto going to do once they found out it was me, their childhood friend? Would they even accept me?

With a yawn, I rolled over and relaxed, letting my loose limbs sink into the yoga mat thing. I didn't have to worry so much, in fact, I didn't know why I worried at all. With a full belly and a mentally stable mind, I was more than prepared for what lies ahead.

 _Standing on water, but where? Where was I? There was water for miles and miles, but no land in sight. On the horizon, a beautiful sunrise was occurring and the red contrasted with the orange and the orange contrasted with the yellow._

 _"You really believe," a crooked and articulated voice asked, "that you c-can c-c-c-control me?" In that moment, another being joined me on top of the water, but it was someone I didn't know. Hair, red as blood and eyes the same color, this girl looked like me, except for the obvious color differences and clothes. Instead of a black shirt and pants, she wore red._

 _"Who're you?" Laughing a laugh that sounded like a box full of crickets being shaken, she rolled her head before staring at my form with a deadly gleam in her eyes and a nasty, rotten smile on her face._

 _"I'm your chakra, hehehahaha..."_

 _What? Where was my other chakra, the one with the white form and the pure essence, because this certainly wasn't her._

 _"Oh, her...?" Without warning, the girl's form started flickering, like a TV channel losing reception or going out of range for a radio broadcast. Every so often, a familiar, broken robot took her place, staring at me with its one red optic and torn away face._

 _"Had to kill the other guy." With a jolt, I realized who this was. Ultron, from the Avengers. It had been so long since I'd seen the movie, so how did this... thing embody his image?_

 _"Next time you use me..." The girl started with a crazed smile, reverting back to her form, but the broken machine that 'Tony Stark' had created quickly reappeared where she had been._

 _"I've got no strings... to hold me down." The eerie telltale song hung in the air, reverberating off of nothing, seeing as there was no land mass of any form to give it an echo, yet it was still there._

 _"I... I don't understand," I questioned, quietly. "I've got perfect chakra control." At this, she laughed and laughed and laughed, appearing again._

 _"You do, you do, but sometimes... **I want control, too**."_


	28. Ultron

**A/N: Sorry it's so short. I've had school and sports. Thanks everyone for reviewing and being so positive! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 28**

Waking with a start, I realized just how hot it was. Throwing off the blanket that I had snuggled up in the night before, I clambered to my feet and got dressed and refreshed in the bathroom. Exiting it, I saw Sai's bed empty, but that wasn't a major concern. He was probably off somewhere, drawing a picture or something.

As I made my way outside, I wondered how on Earth I was going to keep my madness at bay. The night had been pure hell for me because my chakra kept taking the shape of my worst or most admired and respected things and combining them. Ultron had been a genius in Avengers, but pride had been his downfall.

And was that the end of my most admired, yet feared things? Not by a long shot.

My chakra had also taken the form of Bloody Mary from The Wolf Among Us, the Other Mother in Coraline, and Latts Razzi and Asajj Ventress from Star Wars. All of whom had tried to get me to join them, to relinquish my power over myself. When I said no, there had been hell to pay.

But I didn't want to remember that right now.

As I stepped outside, the cool morning air rushed to greet me, helping me get over the terrible night. Spotting a lake, I also spotted Sai and Sakura sitting down on the pier together, looking at Sai's sketchbook. Sakura wasn't really sitting down; she was leaning down next to him.

Tentatively, I stepped onto the pier, wood creaking under my first step and unveiling my presence to Sakura. Sai had already known that I was up. The pinkette stood up and turned around, hair swaying with the cold morning air that seemed to rush through everything.

"..." What was I supposed to say? 'Good morning?' After all, I didn't really know how to handle the situation; the tiniest hint could give me away to Sakura... but wasn't that what I wanted?

"Did you know he can draw?" She finally stated, breaking the silence with her semi-high pitched voice. Looking at my shoes for a second, I was reminded of how hideous they were before staring at the pinkette, who wasn't as hideous.

"Yeah," I replied quietly, earning a curious glance from Sai, who had looked away from his drawing for a rare moment before returning to his art. "Good morning," I added, trying to seem polite. I had learned from experience that it wasn't fun to get ignored. Smiling lightly, Sakura returned the phrase with a little chirp in her voice.

"We have to leave in an hour or so. I'll go wake Captain Yamato and Naruto," Sakura informed, walking back inside the cozy inn. If they had Yelp, I would probably give this place a 4.3 on a 5.0 scale.

Taking my time, I leisurely strolled down the small, wooden pier on the lake. Stopping next to Sai, I observed the beautiful view granted by the lake. A sun almost above the horizon, frogs croaking, lake shimmering, a view nobody could resist. Letting out a sigh, I sat a foot away from the pale shinobi.

"What is it?" He asked tentatively, not looking up from his beloved art. This time, he was drawing the view of the lake, making sure to get every detail in and making it seem as real as possible.

"I'm not going to be using my chakra for awhile." Instead of asking why or when this happened, he simply nodded and added a few more strokes to his painting.

I tried to put myself in his place and the only logical reasons for him not responding were because Captain Yamato was a stone throws away and I would solve the problems soon. How he trusted me this much, I haven't the slightest idea. But I knew it wasn't healthy for someone like him to trust someone like me and for that reason, I suspected he had his suspicions about my humanity and loyalty towards Root.

This of course, wasn't a problem; at least it hadn't been in the past. But now, things had changed, the tables had turned. Sai didn't know it, but without my chakra he could defeat me and I think he knew that.

But he didn't know what would happen if I used my chakra and that was good.

"Why?" The lone question hung in the air, slicing the calm mood in half. Looking at the dark-haired boy, I stared into his eyes, those unending eyes and asked myself the same question, but at the same time, giving myself an answer.

 _"Oh come on... Don't you wanna' play...?" The demented and drawn out voice of Bloody Mary stayed with me, even as I ran away, far, far away, from the madness. Step by step, sight going fuzzy and then clear, as if it never happened. The water under my feet reached up and tried to absorb me, to catch my foot, anything, but I was faster than free-flowing, wet, slow water. Despite the odds, I had to try to get away, after all..._

 _this was my mind,_

 _and what **were** the odds?_

Shaking my head, I quickly got up and walked towards the inn, leaving Sai and his bothersome question in the dust. Behind me, his eyes narrowed at my retreating figure, but I payed him no mind. He couldn't control me; he couldn't control an immortal, nobody could.

Whispers in the back of my head told me this wasn't true, but seeing as those voices were the ones I had heard in my dream last night, I ignored them and kept walking, remembering the dream that had ruined me.

 _"Oh, come on," Ultron asked, appearing in front of me. Halting myself, I glared at the sudden thing with hatred. "Stop... toying with us. Together, we have unlimited power, but you keep pushing us away. Why?"_

 _What had he said...?_

 _"Unlimited power, you say?" I repeated, sounding intrigued, but Ultron wasn't fooled, after all, I hadn't tried very hard._

 _"I bet you're tired. Yeah... you're real tired, aren't you?" Not talking I shook my head, but I knew that was a lie._

 _I was very tired. Wasn't the point of going to sleep to get well rested?_

 _"Stop fighting them!" He roared, shocking me. Stepping back, I realized I had forgotten about the trap water, but it was too late. The water had molded itself around my feet and was currently trying to wrap itself around my arms, but I held them at a safe distance._

"Alright," Captain Yamato started cheerfully, breaking me out of my flashback. "Let's get started." Gradually waking up, the four man team got ready to reenact what the plan was, but instead of focusing, I tried to keep my thoughts organized while not being seen as the weak link. It wasn't until Naruto got tangled up and Sai had disappeared had I realized that I was still under observation by Sakura.

"Let me out of here, stupid!" The blonde yelled loudly, irritating my nerves. "Hey, why're you two even on this team?!" Snapping out of my daze, I organized a well practiced hurt look on my face.

"Sorry if you hate us. I can't change the team arrangements." By this point, Ymato and Sai were back, and Sai had cut the bonds off of Naruto.

"Naruto..." Sakura started, being as useless as I remember. She wasn't helping, so why didn't she leave?

"No! These two clearly haven't experienced loss before! They're emotionless! Can't you tell?" With this accusation, a stirring started in my chest, but the real war was in my head.

" _This child clearly doesn't know loss_ ," Ultron's voice said softly.

"Actually, I have." Thanks, Sai. With him stalling the inevitable, I tried to piece together worthy lies, but nothing was coming to me.

"What about you?" Yamato voiced, directing the question at me.

"I don't like to talk about it," I answered immediately, waving it off with a small smile, enraging Naruto to no ends.

"Bullshit! You've got to have lost something!"

" _Teach him a lesson_ ," Ultron suggested. Knowing I shouldn't, I kept my temper down, as to not alert Yamato.

All at once, I took a breath and calmed my mind. There was no hurry to do anything, I didn't have any pending homework, no friends to worry about, no relationships to treasure. This gave me time to think. As we waited for the mysterious person to show up, I went over my mindset.

" _What's your plan_?" Ultron asked quietly in my head, to not agitate me. Observant.

" _Why do you want to know_?" I thought, playing with a few leaves while Yamato watched Naruto call Sai a bastard. As usual, Sakura had her eyes glued to me and looked away when I glanced over at her.

" _You don't have a set motive, but I know you've got a general goal. However, your mind hasn't touched on the subject and for that, I can't see what the plan is_ ," he explained. If he was real, he'd be waving an imaginary hand around to help move the conversation, like he did in the Avengers.

" _I tend to deal with my plans when the opportunity arises or... it depends on what mood I'm in_."

" _Mood_?" Ending our chat, I caught a kunai aimed at me thrown by Yamato, who was staring at me twirling it in my hands. Catching a kunai in midair had been my greatest accomplishment, in my opinion because it was neat.

"Stay on your toes," he ordered calmly. Tossing it back to him, I went back to fiddling with the leaves, which weren't getting any more interesting.

"Gotcha.'"

" _Looks like someone doesn't trust you_..." Ultron trailed, watching the scene through my eyes. Unable to resist the small smile that manifested on my lips, I crushed one of the leaves and let its remains flutter to the ground, like a dead bird being ripped of its feathers.

" _With good reason_." His hearty laugh echoed softly in my head.

Now, we were waiting for Yamato's signal. The mysterious figure, whoever it was, was telling Yamato details of something. Names like Akatsuki and Sasori emerged from the conversation, but I didn't know what they meant. For all I knew, Akatsuki were a bunch of famous pop stars or a brand of shoes that weren't very popular. It wasn't until a pale dude showed up did things get interesting.

"The deal... just expired," the mysterious figure stated, beheading Yamato's disguise. Raising a hand, Yamato gave a thumbs up and wasting no time, the team- minus me- jumped out.

" _Why are you thinking of the movie, Bolt at a time like this_?" Ultron asked curiously, looking into my thoughts.

" _Well... he did steal that line from that cat, didn't he_?" I thought back. Ultron chuckled and went silent.

"Well, well, well. A four man team? To what do I owe the pleasure?" Kabuto asked, removing his hood and revealing his stupid, smug face.

Everyone else was stuttering in shock, unable to believe that good ol' Kabuto had betrayed the village. It wasn't much of a shock, seeing as how the dude had kidnapped me and after that, I hadn't exactly considered him a loyal soldier.

Yamato and the rest of the team listened while the pale dude, who I now realized was Orochimaru, talked about his experiments. Nobody questioned why I hadn't jumped out with them, but I think Sai was the only one who had an idea as to why. I didn't want to ruin the fight by ending it quickly and I didn't want to give away the fact that I had massive power.

"I wonder," Orochimaru drawled, smirking as he stared at Naruto. "Who's stronger? You... or Sasuke?" At this, I felt a massive spike of chakra coat the air, making breathing a little difficult. It felt... excited.

How could chakra feel excited?

Naruto's form started flowing red and orange and I took this moment to step out, revealing myself. In my head, I could feel Ultron's curiosity at what I was doing, for he couldn't see my thoughts. I never thought during fights.

"Oh...?" Orochimaru querked. "Another weakling?" Ignoring the long-haired freak, I turned my sights to Kabuto, who had a thoughtful look on his face, like trying to piece this revelation together. A few feet away from the duo, Sai's eyes had gone wide but seeing my gaze fall on him, he quickly recomposed himself.

"I'm not your opponent." Dodging Naruto's attack, Orochimaru gritted his teeth at the new factors that had just appeared, a la me. When they fought, I saw Kabuto backing into the tree line.

"What's the plan?" Ultron asked, amusement laced in his voice. "If you try to stop Kabuto, you'll reveal your skill, but if you don't, he'll get away." Clenching my fist, I realized the robot-form of my chakra was right. I couldn't risk revealing myself, but he would get away.

Watching Kabuto inch further and further back made my blood boil. If only there was a way to get over there or do something to him...

Grinning, I started channeling chakra outside my body, not having to use handsigns because I'd mastered the technique long ago, under Danzo's instruction.

" _What're you doing_?" Ultron questioned, feeling a little bit of himself being depleted.

" _You're the plan._ " With this being said, (in my mind) Ultron or my chakra, sped up the technique with excitement and next to me, appeared Ultron, just how I remembered him.

"Much better," he voiced. Turning their heads, Yamato and Sai's eyes narrowed at the robot clone.

Ultron looked just like he did in the movie, except a little bit bigger. His blue optics locked onto Kabuto's form and he started running.

"What did you do?" Yamato demanded, not looking too happy with this new revelation.

"I made a clone, duh." Accepting the answer for now, Yamato focused on more important things, like Naruto, who now had four, orange tails on him and looked a little different. Launching a few feet from Naruto and Orochimaru's fight, Ultron did a flip in the air and landed on the other side, making a small crater appear in the ground.

"Why do they always run?" The dark robot asked, shaking his head.

Ultron's P.O.V.

Taking appearance, I flexed my new hands, and looked at my strange feet. How strange, I thought, to have my own body when my sole purpose was to protect someone else's. For a brief second, I silently questioned why She had manifested me into existence. Had her dream not been scary enough?

No, she had been terrified, and that was what I had wanted, but I couldn't help but wonder... Why had she sent me into action when I clearly warned her about doing such a thing?

Was this part of her plan? And who sent out something evil on their own will? Was this foolish action of her's in my favor? Feeling her irritation begin to grow behind me, I realized she had done this on purpose, and maybe I didn't have as much power as I thought.

Focusing on the white-haired man that had kidnapped her... us, I started running and heard Yamato shout something to Teagen, but that was none of my concern. As I leaped over the fight transcending on the bridge, I saw Orochimaru look up in pure shock and maybe awe, before having to shift his attention back to Naruto.

When I landed, I realized Kabuto had started running away, probably in fear of me or maybe, the guy was running just to run.

"Why do they always run?" I asked myself without a hint of concern in my voice. I could take all the time in the world and I would still catch him. The thing about being someone's clone, is that you get all their attributes depending on how much chakra they had, but this was Teagen.

She had a never-ending supply of it.

And it wasn't necessarily her's to begin with.

With that in mind, I took off in the direction I had last seen the white-haired traitor run.

Not bothering to hide myself I quickly caught up with the weakling, staying a few feet behind him, hidden in the trees. When he realized he wasn't alone, he stopped and smirked, brandishing those strange looking knives that glowed a light blue and began to look around.

"Come out, Ono-san. I know it's you." I didn't say anything in favor of watching the man try to coax me out of hiding.

"You want revenge, don't you? I ruined your life and now you want to kill me. Well now..." Snapping his head to my now revealed location, his smirk transformed into a malicious grin that stretched from ear to ear. "I'll make sure to capture you myself!" With that, he sped towards the spot at a painfully slow speed. I wasn't sure how Teagen had such fast reflexes or eye to brain coordination, but it was definitely something I wanted to figure out.

The scene playing out reminded me of the Quicksilver scene from X Men: Days of Future Past. I guess if I knew everyone's name, then I also retained some of Teagen's memory, too, or maybe, that's just how clones worked.

Waiting till the last possible moment, I watched Kabuto's eyes go wide with shock at the unexpected sight before him: me. When his blades almost touched me, I extended my scaly, metal arm and grabbed the man by the neck, fingers tightening around the soft flesh in my hand.

"To be honest?" I asked, liking the sound of my voice and realized it was the same one from the movie Teagen had compared me with.

"I don't know what she wants."


	29. Memories

**AN: I'm sorry for the late update! Thanks to Thomas Drovin and other reviewers for reviewing and being positive! Thanks so much for the favorites and follows! Honestly, I don't know if people are loving or hating the story, so please review? I'm having a tough time figuring out what the majority of y'all want to see and what y'all love! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 29**

Teagen's POV

As I watched the battle ensue between Naruto and Orochimaru on the wooden bridge, I noticed the long-haired Sannin kept pushing Naruto more and more back towards us. Why? Naruto was his opponent. What's he trying to get away? And wait...

Where'd Sai go?

Wait. Orochimaru had just pushed Naruto back so far that he was now facing Sakura, who was frozen with fear, probably from the excited feeling chakra.

"Move!" I yelled, breaking the silence that had settled for a couple seconds. Behind the scene on the other side, Orochimaru stood, watching with a smile on his face and a little out of breath.

"Sakura!" Yamato barked, moving to intercept the claw swipe from Naruto, who at this point, was now a glowing orange fox on its hind legs with 4 thrashing tails. How he achieved this transformation is beyond me.

As time progressed slowly, I decided Yamato wouldn't get to Sakura in time to stop Naruto from potentially killing her. I also decided that I would do whatever I wanted for my own reasons. If I wanted to save Sakura, I would and I wouldn't give a damn if anyone thought anything about it. Plus, Sakura was a good friend and helping friends was something I just had to do.

Lifting both hands, I forcefully channeled chakra through my arms, ignoring the searing pain of my tainted chakra I had gotten used to a year ago. It hadn't been anyone's fault that my chakra had started feeling like boiling water, it had just started happening and there was nothing I could do about it. Of course, I never told anyone; after all, I didn't want unwanted attention.

 _A memory:_

 _"Again!" Danzo ordered for maybe the 15th time today. Resisting the urge to choke him, I wiped sweat off my brow, cursed the day I was born, and concentrated yet again. We were underground, in a training facility of Danzo's. Surrounding me, were four or five Root members-including Danzo himself. They'd been assigned to throw random weapons at me, trying to catch me off guard. Sometimes they attacked, too. It was my job to use my chakra to stop them and keep them at a distance._

 _The attacks started again and I really focused on not getting impaled by those weird swords Root members always carried around. Dodging and twisting my body this way and that, I felt like a dancer without a technique, trying not to die onstage, because if I died onstage, then it would be very painful._

 _As more sweat appeared on my skin, I contemplated using my chakra technique and decided on doing it, as I retracted my right hand to my body before it got sliced off. Calling upon my chakra from the center of my core, I didn't realize something was wrong until I felt the pain. It felt like boiling water was getting poured on my skin, inside and out._

 _Face taking on a pained expression, I was barely able to duck to avoid getting decapitated by the same person that almost took my arm. As I felt my chakra still channeling to my arms, I held them out to the masked-nin and narrowed my eyes. Seeing my angry expression, the masked-nin almost got away, had he not hesitated to observe my face._

 _And suddenly, the pain wasn't painful anymore._

 _Feeling the chakra leave my being through my palms, it went straight to the masked-nin, at a speed I didn't know was possible. The man... or woman was sent hurtling back, as if hit by a powerful wave. Not looking as he hit the back wall, I directed my chakra to an incoming wave of ninja stars. Snapping my head around, I released my chakra's hold on the weapons, but only heard the thuds as they hit the dirt floor._

 _Grabbing my own kunai quickly, I brought it up with both hands to stop a sword from chopping my head. The other masked-nin and I pushed on our own weapons, trying to gain the upper hand on the other. As his or her leg came up to kick my stomach, my right hand let go of the kunai, resulting in the sword getting closer to my face. Channeling chakra to my right hand, it burned its way through my arm and out my palm, shoving the Root member a good 30 feet back._

 _I knew these elite Root members were going easy on me, only because Danzo had ordered them to. I knew they were stronger than this and they knew I could break their necks if I desired._

When the chakra reached my hands, I felt it surge out of my palms, suddenly speeding towards Naruto, whose clawed, orange hand was close to swiping Sakura's shoulder. My chakra moved much faster outside my body, almost to the point where I couldn't keep up, but my chakra responded with how I bent and tugged at it.

Grey tendrils of smoke-like chakra engulfed Naruto, but the orange, lava-like chakra surrounding him burned the grey tendrils, leaving me with a burnt feeling. Gritting my teeth, I loaded more and more grey tendrils around Naruto, the orange chakra not able to burn away the now overloading amount of grey chakra. Raising my hands, Naruto suddenly raised with them, swiping at air.

"What?!" Orochimaru exclaimed, searching wildly for the sudden change. Following the tendrils of grey, his eyes landed on me, but I didn't meet them. I was focusing on the now roaring Naruto who was looking at me. Small beads of sweat formed on my forehead and I gritted my teeth, trying to keep up with the strenuous amount of chakra needed to restrain him.

What was he?

"Kyoki! Let him down!" Yamato ordered, drawing my eyes from Naruto. Nodding, I placed the thing on the bridge, where Yamato slapped him with something, causing him to calm down. Now, with nothing to do, the see through tendrils receded back into my hands. Grabbing my hair in fistfuls, I sat down, and took deep breaths.

I'll admit, restraining Naruto in... his current state wasn't the hardest thing I'd done, but it wasn't easy either. Glancing at Sakura who was still standing at the same spot with wide eyes, I realized it had been worth it. Without me stepping in, she might be dead right now. Looking past the wrecked bridge, I saw Orochimaru had fled.

"How did you do that?" Yamato asked, not at all sounding friendly, suddenly appearing in front of me. Taking a deep breath, I sighed in relief now that Naruto was normal.

"I can manage chakra outside my body easily," I replied, though he didn't look satisfied. His brows were furrowed and his eyes, his perfect almond eyes had narrowed slightly. Looking down, I realized that maybe I the Root member, the one who left no traces of my presence, the quiet killer, the girl from another world, hadn't made the smartest move.

"Not possible. The only person I know that can do that is..." Wiping away droplets of sweat from my forehead, I looked back to the Captain, squinting and shielding my eyes with a hand. Why was he looking between me and Naruto? Ways away, on the bridge, Sakura was helping Naruto regain his bearings, sometimes glancing at me with a... shocked expression? A worried one? I really couldn't tell.

It was one question that stumped me, one question that if answered wrong, people wouldn't treat me the same, ever again.

"Are you a jinchuuriki?" Blinking, I tilted my head, confused at hearing such a strange word.

"I'm sorry, did you mispronounce something...?" Behind him, on the bridge, Sakura and Naruto looked at each other, shock clearly written on their faces. Was I supposed to know what a gymmonkey was?

"Kyoki... you're a jinchuuriki?" Sakura asked, doubt clear in her voice. Naruto tried to stand up, but fell back on his butt, clearly exhausted. His eyes said otherwise, going as wide as possible.

"You're like... You're like me and... and Gaara?" He questioned, dare I say that his eyes were tearing up? Eyes darting back and forth between faces, I searched for any clues as to what they were talking about. Was it a joke? Why would they play a joke on me? We had to look for Sai.

"Look, I don't know what y'all are talking abo-"

"So you are a jinchuuriki," Yamato stated, cutting me off and possibly sealing my fate. Wait...

Nobody sealed my fate but me. What the hell was going on?

"I guess!" I exclaimed, raising my voice and throwing my hands up, exasperated. Inside, I was secretly grinning. Did I get Royal treatment as a jinchuuriki? Licking my lips, I imagined all the delectable food I would be served.

"Why didn't you tell someone?" Sakura demanded, clenching her fists, probably irritated at my fake secret.

"What should we do, Yamato-sensei?" Naruto asked, finally voicing his concern over my jinchuuriki status.

As I waited for Yamato to answer Naruto, I wondered how Ultron was doing with Kabuto and where he was. Sending a mental message for my clone to report in, I cringed at the sweat that had accumulated on all four of us. I didn't want to be sweaty, and the suddenly cold breeze that blew in wasn't helping my depleting mood.

" _It was a shadow clone, but I tracked down the real group to an underground hideout_ ," Ultron finally reported, breaking my solemn mood.

" _Where are y_ -" I started to think, but was cut off by Yamato, who wasn't looking happy at all.

"You aren't to use your chakra again, Kyoki. When we get back to the village, we'll deal with you then." Searching for any hint of doubt in his voice, eyes or posture, I assumed he wasn't lying.

"But-!" Naruto started, finally getting the strength to get to his feet-with Sakura's help.

"Naruto, we're missing a teammate. That's more important than Kyoki's condition. Didn't you notice how she could control her... demon?" He asked, pausing between words to search for the right one. Raising an eyebrow at Yamato's hesitations, I deemed it funny because I'd never seen Yamato in such a tough situation before.

"Understood, Captain Yamato." An extremely light smile brushed its way onto Yamato's face, but as soon as I saw it, it disappeared. Maybe he was relieved that I hadn't tried to argue.

"Alright... Naruto, do you have the energy to run?" He asked, looking to the yellow-haired boy.

"...Yes."

"Follow me," Yamato ordered, already sprinting through the trees yet again. Springing to the nearest tree, I saw from the corner of my eye that Naruto and Sakura were doing the same, but slightly slower than me.

" _Are you in the base_?" I thought to my clone, keeping an eye out for stray branches that would knock me off my path.

"..."

No response.

A sense of unease crept through my toes and settled in my stomach. Lips worked into a frown, I tried again, thinking the same words, but this time, I thought louder, increasing my focus on the two-way bond that my clones and I had always used to communicate.

"..."

No response. All I heard was... static? It was as if I was getting a bad signal on a radio or T.V. and it made me nervous. Me being nervous made me worried, because I never get nervous.

"Watch out!" Someone warned, breaking my mental concentration. Realizing that I had been staring off into space, my eyes refocused on what was in front of me. A large branch was en route to connecting to my stomach and there weren't any branches near me to correct my mistake.

As I connected with the branch via stomach, my long arms reached over the branch and grasped the bottom of it. Gritting my teeth, I tried to ignore the splinters that dug into my skin when I had dug my nails into the hard, brown bark. Carefully removing my left arm, I swung it the opposite way and grabbed the bottom of the limb, now hanging by my feet and hands like a koala.

Hoisting myself up, I resumed running and jumping across the trees, not saying a word to anyone.

They didn't say a word to me either.

An hour or so after my slip-up, I tried contacting my clone again.

" _Answer me_ ," I demanded with a thought, trying to figure out what was going on.

"..."

The lack of responses and the monotonous, unending static were scaring me. Focusing on the branches, I kept trying and trying to reach my clone, but nothing was working. What had happened? He hadn't popped or I would've received his new memories.

Should I pop him...?

In the end, I quietly uttered, "Kai," but nothing happened. What? Hadn't I mastered the technique?

Wait... the static had stopped...?

" _There are no strings on me_ ," Ultron suddenly sung, scaring me slightly.

Almost slipping, I caught my foot in time and acted like nothing had happened, but inside, inside, I was breaking down, panic settling in, nerves suddenly on edge. Now, the static was loud, louder than ever when I tried to establish a connection to my now rogue clone. At one point, it was just a high, pitching sound, like when microphones made that noise when you held it to close to yourself.

When I stopped trying to establish a connection, a much desired silence filled my ears, and I heard my teammates landing and pushing off their branches as we tried to keep up with Yamato.

Now that I had room to think, I realized how calmly Yamato had handled the situation about me being a 'jinchuuriki' or whatever that was.

What had Naruto said? He and Gaara were jinchuuriki, too? Wasn't Gaara...?

A vision of a red-haired shinobi crossed through my mind, with some kind of symbol on his forehead and a giant, hourglass-shaped vase on his back. How did I know him...?

Oh, yeah! The Chuunin Exams! He was that guy from Suna, wasn't he? Glancing at my yellow-haired teammate, I pondered whether or not I should ask about him.

"Hey, Naruto..." I called out, earning a curious look from him.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Who's Gaara?" I questioned, earning me a glance from Sakura.

"How do you kno-"

"You said he was a jinchuuriki, too," I interrupted, answering his question. Before he answered, Naruto yawned slightly while keeping an eye on the branches and Yamato, who was 10 feet away from all of us.

"Oh, yeah... He's the Kazekage for Suna."

"Thanks," I replied, sending him a small smile. He yawned back, flashing me a peace sign.

Gaara, that scruffy-headed kid that had crushed Lee's legs, was Kazekage? How? How had he earned that title so quickly?

Whatever.

As the day dragged by, so did my mood. Every branch that I had jumped on, every twig and leaf that I pulled from my hair, every time we had to catch up with Yamato, who seemed to have unlimited energy. I was tired of it all. My mood had sunk to the lowest levels and I felt like I was back in a classroom, listening to a lesson I had already learned, surrounded by people who couldn't use the Pythagorean Theorem to save their lives, and listening to the same, bored voice of a teacher who had already taught the same lesson 12 times.

It was a constant loop of me trying to entertain myself. I had tried to keep track of how many branches I had hopped on, but had lost count at 361. After that, I had stared at Sakura's head for a couple of minutes and pondered if her pink hair was dyed or not.

Finally, we had stopped at a Sai's corpse hanging from a tree. Yamato had already told us it was fake and Sakura had his discarded drawing book open, leaning on a tree and flipping through its pages.

"Huh? The only pages filled in are the middle ones," she stated, holding it up for us to see.

Now, as Sai's partner, I hadn't questioned why he had never opened that particular book. Quite frankly, I didn't care what he did in his book because I had been busy trying to perfect my skills.

"It's... not finished." Finally casting a glance to the pages, I saw a drawing of Sai, but he didn't have a face. His hand looked to be holding someone else's, but Sai hadn't drawn that in yet. Strange.

"We should keep moving," Yamato advised, squinting at something in the distance. I tried to spot what he was staring at, but I couldn't find anything of interest. It was all trees. Putting Sai's drawing book in her backpack, we cast one last glance to the fake corpse of Sai on the ground and then we were off.

As we hopped through the trees once again, I tried to reflect on movies that I loved.

-X-Men: Days of Future Past

-Inception

-Spider-Man

-Captain America

...

I had forgotten the rest, but I cherished the ones I could remember. One thing I hadn't forgotten was the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens.

I remembered watching the trailer everyday in my bed, excitedly waiting for it to be released.

I remembered Tobi and telling him the exciting story of Star Wars.

I remembered reading the Outsiders and crying for the first time over a book.

I remembered Temou and how eager he'd been to hear me tell stories.

I remembered a guy named Itachi, Sasuke's brother I think, and how he had comforted me on my second day in Konoha.

I remembered my mom and dad talking to me after my surgery.

I stopped remembering.


	30. The Man Comes Around

**AN: First, thank you, Thomas Drovin for helping me get through this chapter. Readers, this guy is a miracle. Thanks, man. Secondly, I apologize for the late chapter! This will probably happen a lot, but it doesn't mean I've abandoned the story. Lastly, I don't own Naruto.**

"So?" Glancing to my pink-haired teammate, I raised a thin, white eyebrow, slightly confused as to why she was talking to me.

"So, what?" I replied.

"Is Sai down there?" She pointed at the hole Yamato had made a couple of minutes ago. We had arrived half an hour ago at a canyon type slope and Yamato had announced this was where Sai was. Shortly after, he had explained that he had planted seeds in Sai and I's dishes back at the inn, however shady that was.

"How should I know?" Scoffing, Sakura jumped down the hole, but wait... wasn't this Orochimaru's hideout? Why were we jumping down a hole that led to an underground hideout that's owned by a Sannin? To me, that was a tad bit shady and maybe a little reckless.

"Kyoki," Yamato called, leading me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Instead of joining us for the rest of the mission, I want you to stay up here, with my clone."

"Fine," I replied, huffing and kicking up a cloud of sand away from the group. Grinning slightly at my compliance, Yamato formed a handsign (Ha, amateur...) and a clone appeared, and not a shocker, it looked exactly like Yamato. I knew that if it opened its mouth and spoke, it'd sound like the Captain, too.

Spending my childhood with only the Basic Three, I'd already mastered them all, because that's literally all I did as a genin.

"I'm glad you understand. Wait for us here and no matter what, don't go down the hole, no matter what you hear. My clone will be here, so don't worry. Understand?"

"Got it," I answered with boredom, not too sure why he was so keen on me staying on the plain, boring surface. And why did he think I needed protection anyways? Did he not see me literally use tendrils of chakra to lift Naruto in his gym monkey (jinchuuriki) form?

"Be strong," Naruto advised, flashing me a thumbs up.

"You too."

" _You couldn't have sounded anymore fake_ ," Ultron commented, reading my thoughts despite him still being a clone.

" _What happened to the static?_ " I replied, watching the last member of the dysfunctional Team Seven jump down the stupid rabbit hole Yamato had dug up.

" _I was setting up something cool for you when you got down here_."

"You're awfully quiet," Yamato's clone commented, looking almost as bored as me.

"I'm a quiet person," I said, flicking a pebble and deciding never to do that again. That kinda hurt.

" _Well, I'm not going down there,_ " I thought back, resuming my conversation with my own chakra. How crazy did that sound?

" _Well, I guess I'll just come up there. Release me_." Pointing two fingers to the sky, I muttered, 'kai,' before feeling a small surge of chakra pour into me. Shortly afterwards, I made a clone and let Ultron form into it, taking his own body shape.

"What're you doing?!" The Captain's clone demanded, taking a couple steps back as he took in the sight of Ultron.

"I got bored," I replied, a small smile tugging at the edge of my lips, voice low and teasingly insulting, as if I was taunting the wooden clone, "so I decided to make some company. Isn't it coo-"

"Release it, now." Smile slowly disappearing, I raised an eyebrow, getting slightly irritated at the clone, who looked very serious. In fact, he'd taken a fighting stance, head low and knees bent, hands ready to form signs if necessary.

"What a two-face..." Ultron muttered, waving his hand back and forth, as if trying to fan himself, which he did _not_ need to do.

"Why?"

"Because I said to. Now, comply to my orders, or I'll be forced to restrain you and tell Yamato."

"Why'd you have to be bossy...?" Ultron commented, hearing me start to chuckle lightly.

"That's all anyone wants, isn't it?" I answered, now irritated at the wooden clone. "Everyone is telling me _to do_ this and _do that_ , _don't even think about doing this_ , _you'll be punished._ You know what?"

"Calm down," the clone suggested slowly, hand reaching behind him, no doubt to go for some kunai or senbon.

"What are you, _my mothe-"_ I started to yell, but a poof of smoke told me someone had harmed the clone.

"Someone's angry," said a voice from a distance, but I heard it well. Eyes snapping to the treeline Ultron had been looking at, I scoffed, not wanting to have to deal with anyone else's presence today. Walking towards me from the trees was a blue man and a man with black hair, both wearing black cloaks with a red splotch on it.

They looked like idiots.

"Leave me alone," I replied, already angry at the newcomers. They didn't say anything else, but as they got closer and closer, I saw the blue man had...

Were those gills?

Whatever. On his back, was an obnoxiously giant, semi-skinny wrapped sword. His eyes were black and beady, and his hair was bluer than the ocean. Plus, he was _slightly_ taller than me. His partner, the black, long-haired dude, had two lone wrinkles leading down both his eyes like he hadn't gotten any sleep in a while and he was almost as tall as me. Curiously enough, their hitai-ate's both had a thin line going through the affiliation of their villages.

"Did you not hear me?" I asked once they came within a reasonably close distance, about a couple of feet in front of me.

"You're the jinchuuriki, Ono Kabucha, rumored to be immortal, now affiliated with Root," the black-haired guy informed calmly, as if I didn't already know that. The slight thought of _"How did they know that?"_ flashed through my head, but they probably wouldn't tell me.

"So...?

"We're going to ask you to come with us peacefully," he asked, not bothered by the large, devious smile on his partner's face. The fishy man was looking at me like I would look at blackberries, and that was _not_ okay with me.

"And _where_ would we be going?" I asked, greatly irritated by that stupid look on the blue guy's face.

"Don't worry 'bout it," Fishy replied, revealing two rows of pearly white _sharpened_ teeth. Was he a shark or something? If he had a summon, was it a shark? That'd be _so_ funny.

"Will you compl-"

"If you say 'comply,' I'll slap you in the teeth," I interrupted, glaring at the calm man, earning a roar of laughter from Mr. Gills.

"Will you accept?" He rephrased, not jolted in the slightest about his partner, who was slapping his knee with laughter. Rubbing my chin, I acted like I was pondering his request, as if I'd actually _comply._

"How abou- Kunai!" I yelled quickly, throwing a kunai _directly_ between them. Not moving in the slightest, they watched as it passed them, slightly amused.

"Your aim sucks," Blue commented, turning back to look at me. The calm guy was observing carefully, like I would do if I was in his position.

"Does it?" I questioned with a sinister grin on my face. Before he could reply, I disappeared in a 'poof,' reappearing next to the tree my kunai had been embedded in. Where I had been standing, was a kunai.

"Wha-?" Blue stammered, looking around for me, but I'd already sprinted into the treeline. His partner, however, wasn't next to him anymore.

 _Instead of running in a green forest, I was now on a basketball court, a very familiar basketball court. My legs were moving on their own accord, sprinting down two courts and picking up an awfully familiar, empty water bottle._

 _Pivoting on my right leg, I sprinted back with a frown on my face from knowing exactly what would happen._

 _My kneecap twisted painfully as I put weight down on my right foot, the patella shifting to the inside of my knee socket. It was exactly as I remembered it._

 _Except for the pain._

 _Shrieking out in agony, I fell, not bothering to catch myself, for my hands were wrapped tightly around my right knee. What had happened? Hadn't I had surgery to get rid of this problem? Hadn't I been granted a new body when I came to this world? Why was my knee collapsing in on itself again?_

 _And suddenly, I was sprinting down the same court, pain still in my knee and with each leg impacting the ground, I couldn't help but gasp in pain. Grabbing that same, plastic water bottle, I pivoted on my right foot, crying out in agony because I knew what was to come._

 _Halfway down the court, when I landed on my right leg, it gave out, again and the pain increased._

 _On and on it went, this memory that I had tried to bury, but that hadn't worked out._

 _Sprint._

 _Grab water bottle._

 _Pivot._

 _Pain._

 _Sprint._

 _Knee gives out._

 _More pain._

 _Each time, it grew worse and worse. It was like somebody was trying to pull my kneecap out of my leg, like pulling a rusty nail out of a board with a hammer._

Ultron's POV

Watching her writhe in pain by my feet was a new experience for me, as she had been the one to watch others roll on the floor, in complete agony. Oh, how the tables had turne-

What was that? Tilting my head down, I saw three kunai at my feet, having bounced off my metal frame. Glancing up, I caught the smile slip from the shark's face, unsure of why I wasn't dead or up in smoke.

"Was that a joke?" I questioned, scooping up the kunai at my feet. Letting a couple of chuckles escape the metal bindings I called a mouth, I observed as the shark now looked angry and confused. His partner, the one responsible for Teagen's distress, wasn't as antsy.

"Who are you?" He asked, black locks of silk moving slightly with the weak wind current that had settled in the canyon.

"I'm her. Aren't you criminals?" If the fish out of water noticed that my gaze had settled on him for more than a second, he didn't say.

"Let's just grab the girl and leave," Sharkbait stated, popping his neck in a failed intimidation method. Fist tightening around the kunai he'd thrown at me, I let them fall to the ground, now useless scraps of metal, bent and twisted out of shape, one even resembling a ball.

"Something tells me there's something Leader didn't tell us," Itachi stated, examining the metal scraps I'd crushed. Now that was interesting. They had a leader? They weren't on their own, as thugs or mercenaries?

One moment , the shark was standing by his partner, reaching for his stupidly large sword. The next, he was in front of me, eyes blazing with humorous anger and inches away from cutting my head off with that same stupidly large sword.

All it took was an upraised hand, forced chakra, and the hatred of Teagen Wells. The shark went blasting back before his sword had reached my metal-plated neck. Before he flew over Itachi, the raven-haired man jumped up and wrapped a hand around the shark's ankle, sending them both to the ground safely.

"What are you?" Itachi asked, eyes slightly wider than usual. I guess not many men could knock a 6'2 shark with legs around like I could.

""And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder

One of the four beasts saying,

'Come and see.' and I saw, and behold a white horse."

Leaving these few words behind, I silently thanked Teagen for introducing me to Johnny Cash. Poofing out of existence, I left Teagen to deal with the strange pair, knowing she could kill them if she wished. Hell, if they saw her power, they'd be on their knees, begging for her to spare their lives and then...

Then, she'd have two infamous criminals wrapped around her finger.

Maybe, just maybe, this was her plan.

 _Teagen's POV_

 _The scene had changed and the pain had faded. This time..._

 _This is when I'd sung for him. Was my mind collapsing? Had I accidentally hit a tree branch while I was running from Sharky and the calm one?_

 _My body was very small, back in the Academy days. Instead of my movements being restricted, I was allowed free movement, but something else had changed, too._

 _Everytime I walked through Konoha as a small, vulnerable girl, the images of my world never left me. If I started to push the thoughts of my mother, father, and volleyball out, it'd apply itself to my mind, like a fresh coat of paint that took too long to dry._

 _And everytime, I'd catch a glimpse of Sasuke's older brother, who I now recognized as Itachi._

 _"Why did you lie to me?" He would always ask, ignoring Sasuke's obvious pleas of attention._

 _"I didn't." This was always my answer, and that was always his question._

 _As always, I cried tears I didn't know I still had. The heartache of homesickness and being alone and miserable was placing a large weight on me, leaving me with a heavy heart._

 _On the 6th time that I appeared in the same memory, I finally gave Itachi a different answer, but not to the question he always asked._

 _"Why did you lie to me?" Staring blankly ahead, I decided I didn't want to be a part of this anymore, whatever 'this' was._

 _"Is God punishing me?" I asked, eyes dead to the world and mouth set into a thin line, not moving unless I spoke._

 _"... no." Flickering my gaze to the ground, I didn't bother looking Itachi in the eyes. If this was an illusion played by Ultron, then there was no use in actually looking at the people, as if they were real._

 _Unsure of when the flashbacks would end, I rolled with it, not quite sure what was going on._

 _As I walked back to the orphanage from the Academy, I glanced at a barren shop window, one with no mannequins or signs to advertise what the store sold. Glancing at the wooden door, I caught sight of a foreclosure sign in bright red._

 _Although the memories of my old home kept making themselves known, I ignored them for now, as I had gotten over it long ago. As Itachi passed me with his brother, he didn't stop because I didn't have any tears on my face._

 _Considering this an achievement, I ignored them too and approached the empty, square window. As I walked closer to the dark window, so did my reflection, a little girl with brown eyes and even browner hair in a ponytail on top of her head._

 _This was me. Before, I'd considered my new body a disgrace, but now, I wanted that brown hair, those adorable brown eyes. The contacts and hair dye Danzo had given me just made me feel fake, and in my opinion, I hated the white hair and I couldn't get it out unless Danzo gave me permission._

 _"This isn't you," my reflection stated, moving her lips when I did not. Hearing the familiar, crackly voice of Ultron, or my chakra, I sighed, wondering when this would end._

 _"I know," I answered, not caring if people stopped to stare at me oddly. It was all in my head._

 _"No, I mean you're not actually here," she answered with a frown. Rubbing sweat off my forehead, I hated that the sun was apart of the memory too._

 _"I know. It's in my head, isn't it? I'm having some sort of wild drea-"_

 _"No! Itachi's controlling you with his Sharingan. You're still in the canyon. You need to wake up or you'll be captured." She said this with a little more urgency in her voice._

 _"What if I don't want to leave this?" I asked quietly, head tilting up to catch a glimpse of the blue sky with lazy white clouds shimmering in and out of existence, yet still holding the promise of rain, no matter how weak they were._

 _"What?!" My reflection exclaimed, yelling at me with something I was unaccustomed to, loudness._

 _Ignoring the yells of my chakra from my reflection, I turned around and tried to straighten out my thoughts, watching the villagers as they passed._

 _One thing I'd noticed, was that the memories of my old life had stopped plastering themselves everywhere in my head, and for that, I was thankful._

 _Why'd this place have to have fights? Why did anyone fight at all? Why couldn't we all just jam out to Dancing Queen by ABBA?_

 _Why were children taught how to fight at all? Did mutual respect not exist here? Did everyone automatically hate each other, even though nobody did anything?_

 _"They've got a leader!" My reflection shouted at me, trying to draw me back to her. Slowly craning my neck around, I spotted her, fuming at the prospect that she couldn't do anything to me because she was just a reflection._

 _"In the end... there is always a leader, chakra. There will always be someone trying to take the reigns... call the shots, if you will. And in the end, there's always someone to stop them." Turning around, I ignored the shrieks of attention, the shrieks of annoyance my chakra was vocalizing._

 _Turning 90 degrees to the left, I stared at the lowering sun, the sunset I'd seen too many times. Slowly, I breathed in and out, deciding that I hated this plane of existence._

And then, I woke up with a fading pain in my knee and sweat dripping off my forehead, which was hot from the sweaty accumulation and the sun. Shielding my eyes from the glaring ball of light in the sky, a dark blue silhouette blocked out the sun.

Once my eyes adjusted, I spotted a large smile plastered on that shark's face, a smile I didn't know shark's could have, a smile that promised painful memories in my future. A quick jab to the neck, and I was out, silently hating that Uchiha and his pet shark that had grown legs.

 _Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still_

 _Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still_

 _Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still_

 _Listen to the words long written down_

 _When the man comes around_

-Johnny Cash, The Man Comes Around


	31. Interrogation

**AN: Hello! I'd like to thank RainbowBright333 and Thomas Drovin for the fabulous reviews! I know this chapter is short and it's taken a while for me to get it out, but what can I say? I'm a busy person with my own schedule. I don't own Naruto. Reviews are welcome and any question you may have, just ask.**

 _January...?, 722(?)_

 _Dear Diary,_

 _I'm not sure what's going on. Everything's dark and quiet. It hasn't been this quiet in a while, actually. I'm not sure why I'm writing in English, or how I remember it, but in a way, I still hate writing commas and stuff. I was actually going to say, "In a way, I feel calm," but nooooo. I don't know why I'm still using quotation marks, so I'll stop talking about it, for now._

 _For now._

 _Anyways, I guess the people that kidnapped me threw me in a dark room, but somehow, I'm still able to see your pages. Is this a form a torture? Psychiological torture? I'm sure I spelled 'psychiological' wrong, but oh well. Since I don't have a dictionary, I can't correct it._

 _Well, I'm not entirely sure what the date is, but that's partly my fault. I never made an effort to keep up with it to begin with, so who knows. Now that I'm asking questions, I want to ask you one._

 _How did I get here and when did I start writing in a journal?_

 _Now, I'm sure these questions will be answered in due time, but they're not the ones I want answered. I'm well aware that a journal can't write its writer back, unless this is Harry Potter and you're Tom Marvelous(?) Riddle. Was that his middle name or was it more complicated than that?_

 _So, I'll make up answers to my own questions in an attempt to pass the time in this dark room._

 _How's Mom and Dad? - They're fine. Probably moved on from my dissappearence by now. I didn't spell 'dissappence' right at all. It looks too long. I'm ashamed of my English._

 _Who won the elections for 2016 president? - The only person I remember from this is Hillary Clinton._

 _Well, I did have more questions, but for now, I want to talk about my life._

 _I absolutely hate this world. People fight and fight and fight all the time! What for? What's so important that'd you'd risk your life for it, huh? Why can't we just talk things out, like regular people? I would just love it if I could return to my real home. Alright, I'm not going to cry because I honestly don't want to. I've cried too much here and crying is for babies._

 _I'm just going to lean back and envision a really good memory from the beach and maybe, I'll sing a little, too, if you don't mind._

 _Of course you don't mind. You're a journal._

Capping the black pen, I closed the weathered journal and set it down on the floor besides me with the pen. Eyes lazily roving the dark, I couldn't make anything out other than a faint glow from the journal on the floor. Were the pages glow-in-the-dark? That was cool.

Reaching my hands up, I cupped them around my head in a relaxed position, leaning against a wall I couldn't see and sitting on a floor I couldn't feel.

It was like a dream. My movements were sluggish, in a tired-like way, but I was strangely relaxed and okay with the whole thing. Closing my dreary eyes, I inhaled slightly and started to softly sing "Kokomo," by the Beach Boys, a faint memory reawakening with the song.

With closed eyes, my mouth lazily worked into a happy grin.

 **Itachi's P.O.V.**

"Quiet!" Pein yelled, nearly bringing his office to a silence, minus Hidan's snickers. "All of you are here because of our new prisoner, who was captured by Itachi and Kisame." Silently nodding at the orange-haired shinobi while my partner gave a smirk of triumph, we acknowledged him.

"I want to know why I had to dig through Sasori's things and give her a heavy tranquilizer while she's under his genjutsu _and_ bound in chakra restraints," Deidara snapped. Throwing a quick glance to me, Pein sighed and sat up a little taller.

"She isn't a jinchuuriki."

A chorus of yells and groans filled the room, with many of the faces having frowns upon them, not pleased with this news.

"Then why'd you have us capture her?" Kisame demanded. I myself wasn't pleased with this news, but I didn't let my emotions show.

"Because she's like Hidan," Pein answered, pointing at the grey-haired Jashinist. Said man took on a rather shocked look and in this rare moment, he was at a loss for words.

"She's a Jashinist, too?" Konan asked, arms crossed. Deidara rolled his eyes, huffing a bit.

"No. From what Zetsu has reported, she's _naturally_ immortal." He said 'naturally' so strangely, as if he, himself, didn't believe what he was saying.

"So, what do we do? It'd be a crime not to recruit her," Kakuzu stated, uncrossing his covered arms. Next to him, surprisingly silent, Hidan nodded with a thoughtful expression adorned on his face. Nodding at the wrapped man, Pein continued.

"That's the plan."

"Who's going to talk to her?" Konan questioned softly, glancing around the circle.

 **Teagen's P.O.V.**

15 minutes of singing and smiling, the pitch black room enlightened. I saw bars around me, a cell. The walls and floor became stone and the journal stopped glowing. Now that I wasn't as drowsy, I realized that I had chakra restraining cuffs bounding my hands together.

"Hello?" I called, voice echoing slightly throughout the empty room. Standing up, I heard the growl of my stomach, but didn't see any food. My bladder wasn't full, so I didn't need to use the restroom, wherever it was. My black clothes were slightly stinky and my white hair was coming loose of its ponytail. Not that I could fix it, with these cuffs on. Glancing down to stretch my neck, I caught sight of the journal still on the floor.

So, it wasn't a hallucination?

"Hello," a girl greeted. Head shooting up, I saw a woman on the other side of the bars, looking at me. She had pretty purple hair and a purple rose in her hair. Dark golden eyes stared, not leaving my figure. Under her mouth, was a lone piercing. What she was wearing, that awful black cloak with the red clouds on it, was all I needed to know about her.

She was with _them._

Staying silent, I rose a thin, white eyebrow, not sure of what to do. She was one of my captors, right?

"Do you know who I am?" She asked, taking a step closer to the cell. Moving slightly forwards, I shook my head, hair swaying softly.

"I was hoping you'd enlighten me." A small smile formed on her face, before it disappeared.

"I'm with the Akatsuki." A faint memory of someone else saying 'Akatsuki' popped into my head. Oh, right. My reflection in the memory had mentioned it. "And I want to offer you a position within our ranks."

Narrowing my eyes for a second, I realized how familiar this was to Danzo's offer. Seeing as how it was obvious that she wasn't going to say anything else, I inwardly smiled.

"And?"

Glancing from side to side, her eyebrows furrowed in clear confusion, as if she were used to people just accepting her offers right off the bat.

"And what?"

"Is there a paper I need to sign?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows. Eyes widening for a few seconds, she shook her head.

"No. Does this mean you'll join?" I could hear the disbelief in her voice, as if thinking that I was actually that stupid.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I exclaimed, waving my hands slightly, "I've got more questions than _that_."

"Okay..." She trailed off, glancing around as if unsure if this was actually happening.

"First," I started, holding up my right pointer finger, "does your organization have freshly washed blackberries on hand at all times?" Her face morphed from total confusion to 'try to get through the questions.'

"No, but that can be arranged," she answered, nodding slightly and never losing eye contact with me.

"Great! Second," I held up another finger, "is chocolate flavored cereal available for breakfast?"

"Surprisingly, yes, it is. Anymore questions?"

" _Plenty._ "

I saw her die a little inside.

"Are there hot showers?"

"Yes."

"Nice beds?"

"Yes."

"Strawberry flavored shampoo?"

"Yes." Raising an eyebrow, I started to have doubts about what she was telling the truth about.

"Why was I kidnapped?" At this point, her arms unfolded and she started shifting back and forth.

"It was simply a precaution."

"A precaution for what?" I shot back, now frowning. Regaining her composure, she stood straight, with a sense of confidence.

"It's a type of initiation for every new recruit."

 _Liar._

"Oh, okay," I shrugged, letting my hands drop down in front of me. What happened to that seed that Yamato had given me? Had I digested it already? Probably, seeing as he wasn't here.

"Anything else?" She asked, smile back on her face.

"Wanna get these cuffs off me?" _So I can break that filthy, lying neck of your's?_

"After you've joined. Now, will you join the Akatsuki?"

 _How can someone so pretty be working for something so bad?_

"What happens if I don't join?" I asked, looking to my feet for a moment. Her eyebrows raised and her smile slowly disappeared.

"Will you join the Akatsuki?" She repeated, voice now dangerously sharp.

My smile widened, revealing my straight, white teeth. _They don't know what to do to me._ Standing up straighter, I realized I was taller than her, by a _lot_. And in that moment, she realized what had been going on, why I'd been asking such _stupid_ questions.

"You were never going to join," she breathed, eyes narrowing at being played, "were you?"

"Now, we've wasted each others' time," I replied, letting my hands hang limp in front of me. She stared, not with anger or hatred, but a sense of calm, as if this could be fixed with the press of a button.

"What're you going to do to me?" I asked, arching an eyebrow and losing the smile, "Torture me? Toy with my mind? _Kill me?_ "

"..."

"Let me get this straight. You waltzed in here, expecting me to join a random group that kidnaps people? How stupid do you think I am?"

"We're done here." With this, she turned tail and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. The 'click' of the door's lock reverberated throughout the room and then I was alone.

Picking up the journal once more, I opened it and picked up the pen.

 _Same day_

 _Some people in this place aren't as smart as they are pretty. I just want to go home and play volleyball again. Hell, I want to run on the high school track again._

 _I guess it's too much to ask for._

 _But on the bright side, the chakra called Ultron is gone. Yeah, I don't even sense his presence anymore and it's not just the chakra restraining cuffs. Anyways, I'm not sure where you came from, diary, but I'm glad I get to write in you. Maybe they'll read you in hopes of discovering my mind?_

 _But wouldn't an experienced ninja never reveal his secrets on paper? Should I act like them or not? Oh well. I've already written in you. Plus, I don't even know any secrets, so I'm not sure what they're expecting._


	32. Fire

**AN: Thanks so much for the reviews, Thomas Drovin and Guest! It means a lot! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 32**

 _Dear Diary,_

 _I'm not sure what date it is anymore, so that's why I didn't date you. Maybe it's February? Oh well._

 _Well, it's been about two weeks since I first wrote in you and I know this is gonna sound cheesy, but you're the only thing helping me keep sane. Remember that movie with Tom Hanks stuck on a deserted island and how obsessed he was with that volleyball named Wilson? Well, you're Wilson and I'm Tom Hanks._

 _Well, I've been going to the restroom in a bucket and cleaning my hands with hand sanitizer. They give me a new bucket every day, so I don't have to smell 'it' at night. They only give me one meal a day, usually whatever they had for lunch, which is always a PB and J sandwich. Then, they give me a couple sips of water, usually long sips._

 _And I've been sleeping on the stone floor, with no pillow or blanket. I suppose people have it worse than I do, so that's why I'm not complaining. Also, I still have those annoying chakra restraining cuffs on. And the lady said she gave me you because I ought to have something to do, as if I was a child or something._

 _Well, now that the boring stuff is outta the way, let me tell you my escape plan._

 _I'm going to act like I want to join their club and then, I'll **kill** them all! Haha! Doesn't that sound like absolute fun to you? Because it sure as hell appeases to me. You wanna know why I hate these people so **damn** much? One, they kidnapped me. Two, I threw up yesterday from sleeping so close to  mold. And three, they've killed me already. The purple-haired wench just up and pierced my skull with a senbon. A **senbon** of all things! Of course, I've been killed before, but my other killers didn't have a look of absolute joy on their faces._

 _Now, this might sound strange, but while I've been singing, it... my chakra, feels different. Like a snake, coiled and ready to strike at a moment's notice. I guess it must've been evolving or something like that, but how stupid does that sound anyway? I can't give any other explanation than that. Maybe it's my burning hatred for that girl?_

 _All I've got to do is get these cuffs off._

Now all I've got to do is wait. Capping the pen and throwing the journal to the side, I stood up, anticipating the lady's arrival with my sandwich.

But wait. Just how much did they know about me? They had to have a spy in Konoha or something to even figure out that I was Ono Kabucha. In fact, not even a spy could've figured that out.

So, how did they do it?

The creaking of a door broke me from my thoughts. Eyes locking onto the familiar sight of black, red, and purple, I tried not to grin at what was to come. After all, I wasn't aiming to be crazy.

I was aiming to _kill_ and to _kill_ , you had to have a fake innocence to trick others into trusting you...

At least, that's what Danzo had taught me. Plus, it worked every time, so why not do it?

Silently, the lady handed me the sandwich and made to leave, cloak swishing with how fast she'd turned.

"Wait," I called out quickly, silently hating how gritty my voice sounded. I hadn't talked in almost a week or two, so of course, things weren't going to be perfect. Pausing halfway to the door, she turned halfway, as if uninterested in giving me her full attention.

"What?" She snapped, golden eyes narrowing. Stopping myself just in time from raising an eyebrow, I coughed.

"I... I want to join," I pleaded, voice cracking slightly. Hearing this, the woman's lips upturned into a satisfied smirk, realizing she'd finally cracked me.

But really, she didn't even _try_.

I'd been through far worse with Danzo's 'training.' I'm not even sure if this was mental torture or not, but mental torture didn't work on me anymore. Not after seeing Poli's death. Not after being killed just to see if I was immortal...

 _ **Twice**_.

"We'll see about that," she commented, evil smile still on her full lips, piercing glistening in the lone light within the room as she took slow steps towards my cell. Though I kept a calm facade, I so desperately wanted to smile with victory.

 _"Just take the cuffs **off,** " _something whispered in the back of my mind. The brief thought of Ultron flashed through my head, but I dismissed it quickly. Ever since I'd been imprisoned here, Ultron's presence had disappeared, like he was dead.

The voice I'd heard had been mine.

 **Tobi's P.O.V. (The kid from a few chapters ago)**

Four years. It'd been four years since Ono Kabucha had left me.

And approximately 11 and a half days since Nana had died from an attack by an actual missing-nin.

 _"Nana, Nana, wait!" I yelled, grabbing her delicate and wrinkly wrist. She turned around and grabbed me by my shoulders with a surprisingly strong grip, ignoring the ominous threat in our front lawn._

 _"Tobi, when I confront them, I want you to run, understand? Run to Konoha and don't look back." Her words barely registered in my mind before she pulled away, turning to face the grey-haired man and the mummy, both wearing a black cloak with a red cloud on the front._

 _"I may be old, but I can still fight!" She declared, mouth set into a thin line. At her side, her wrinkly hands clenched into fists and in her eyes, her weary, run down eyes, a fire ignited and I no longer recognized her as the Nana that had taught me how to read and write._

 _"Look at this, Kakuzu, the hag actually wants to put up a fight," the grey-haired guy said, a smirk appearing on his smooth face. Besides him, his partner shifted from one foot to the other impatiently._

 _"Hurry up, Hidan. We don't have all day, remember?"_

Looking up at the looming walls of Konohagakure, a lone tear leaked from my eye. Brushing it away, my eyes narrowed. I couldn't be weak.

 _Not now._

Looking down at my clothes, I wondered if someone would give me some new shorts and a shirt. My blue shirt was badly singed and covered in dirt. My shorts weren't doing so well either. As for my shoes...? Glancing down at my feet, I considered my old sandals to be a couple strips of leather now, somehow still attached to my feet. Now that I think about it, my burns were still hurting, as if the skin was still burning.

"Who're you?" Someone asked, appearing in front of me. Head shooting to the speaker, I almost said 'Tobi' when I realized what this guy was wearing; a bright green spandex suit and orange leg warmers.

"Are you with Konoha?" I replied, averting my gaze to Konoha's walls near us.

"Yes! For I am Might Guy, the amazing green beast on Konoha! And you are...?" Getting over the yelling, I looked over this... atrocity thoroughly, finally spotting Konoha's symbol on a metal thing attached to his red belt. Hiding my frown at the thought that this guy might actually be my way into Konoha, I tried to smile, but it was a weak one.

"Tobi," I answered, with slightly less enthusiasm than Guy. He bent down and brought a thumb to his chin, taking in my battered appearance, burnt skin, and run down attitude.

"What happened to you, Tobi-kun?" Finally meeting his searching, black eyes, one of my blonde eyebrows raised, slightly confused on the '-kun' part and that his voice had lowered to a soft tone, no longer yelling.

 _"Run, Tobi! Now!" Nana snapped, keeping her eyes on the pair in front of her. Snapping out of my daze, I took off into one of the multiple cornfields. Seeing as how it was almost time to harvest, the corn was taller than my short 5'2 body, effectively hiding me from view._

 _"Kakuzu, can you get the damn brat?" I heard the grey-headed guy ask._

 _"Not on your life," Nana yelled. Turning back around, I was able to make out Nana's hands moving quickly, too quick for my eyes to follow, but I recognized what she was doing._

 _She was forming handsigns._

 _"Hidan-"_

 _"No! This is my fucking fight! Stay out of it, bastard! I want to see what the hag's got up her sleeve." Glancing over to the pair, I saw they weren't moving to avoid whatever Nana was about to do. Why weren't they moving...?_

 _"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Nana yelled, moving her hands to cup around her mouth. The grey-haired man was no longer smiling and his partner looked shocked._

 _All of a sudden, Nana sucked in a deep breath and blew out fire. The fire was bright orange and easily spanned 20 feet on either side of her. The flames consumed the grey-haired man, but his partner backed off, barely dodging the orange waves of heat. Eyes widening, I scowled at the thought that she hadn't taught me that trick._

 _The waves of fire lasted for 30 seconds, which I thought was quite impressive, since I still didn't know some of the signs Kabucha had taught me. When the flames died down, the grey-haired man had turned black and had white lines running up and down his body, only wearing his pants that somehow survived the fire._

 _And, he was holding a red three-bladed scythe, very different from the short one-bladed scythe I used to cut down the crops._

 _"I've got to hand it to you, hag. That was something for an old lady like you," the thing commented, standing up from where he'd been on his knees. Nana's eyes widened, along with my own baby blues and we thought the same question._

 _" How had he survived that?"_

 _"How-" Nana started, but his partner cut her off._

 _"How do you know a technique to an extinct clan?" Eyes narrowing at both, I wanted to hurt them for trying to hurt Nana, but she'd told me to run._

 _"I had a relationship with one... of them, back when they were alive. He taught me the technique because he trusted... me." Noticing how out of breath Nana was, I wanted to rush to her aid, but before I moved, I remembered her orders._

 _"Fair enough," the mummy replied, nodding to his partner, "he survived because he's immortal." Taking a step back in shock, I heard my foot crunch on a fallen corn stalk and silently cursed myself, but thankfully, they were still focused on Nana._

 _"That's impossib-" Nana jumped back to avoid the red blades, but one of them nicked her right arm, drawing a thin line of blood. Catching the scythe, the black and white guy licked the blood off his blade, like me when I was finishing dinner._

 _"And now that my partner's told you the truth, I've got to sacrifice you to Jashin!" He yelled, pointing the blade at his chest._

 _Before Nana could say anything more, he plunged the scythe into his own chest, all the blades cutting through his skin like butter. From where I could see Nana with her back turned, she had emitted a loud gasp and blood erupted from her chest, but I didn't know why. She hadn't been struck._

 _I tried to register why Nana had fallen to her knees, but my mind drew a blank. In front of her, the black and white man withdrew the blades from his chest and smiled._

 _When Nana's face met the earth in front of our farmhouse, my world slowed down. Opening my mouth, I desperately wanted to call out to her, tell her to get up, but no sound came out. Closing my mouth, I slapped a hand over it, trying not to make any noise._

 _"Now, for the brat..." The killer said, eyes scouring the cornfields, but I'd kept myself hidden._

 _"No, Hidan. We need to get our real bounty by the end of the day." Rolling his eyes, the killer huffed, clearly annoyed at his partner. Seeing small movements from the mummy, I realized he was forming handsigns, though not as fast as Nana had formed her's. Muttering something I couldn't hear, he pointed one of his hands towards the farmhouse and another one at the cornfields._

 _When I saw the first signs of fire from his palms, I ran to the back of the cornfields, legs pumping with adrenaline. Behind me, I heard the fire crackling, sweeping through the corn and consuming all my hard work. Raising my hands to my face, I barely stopped the raging flames from licking at my eyesight._

 _Instead, the flames engulfed my legs and arms, not catching fire to my crudely made shorts and shirt, because of what they were made of. I'd forgotten, but I only remembered that Nana had sown them for me because of how tall I was growing._

 _Completely covering my face with my hands, I blindly ran, trying to make it to the forest, while also trying to ignore the feeling of hot coals on my feet as I ran. As my hands met my face, I realized there was something wet covering the majority of my face._

 _Tears._

Snapping out of the memory, I focused on Guy's patient eyes and in that moment, I remembered what had been burned in the fire.

The barn, where I'd snapped the cuffs off of Kabucha.

The farmhouse, where I'd lived most of my life.

The kitchen, where Nana and I had eaten dinner and where she'd taught me how to speak, read, and write.

The cornfields, where I'd spent too many afternoons tending the crops and fending off coyotes, sometimes killing them.

The picture that had sat in its frame on the kitchen counter, the only one I'd cared about because the picture was of me and Nana.

Nana's body. _My_ _life_.

When Guy waved a hand in front of my face, I took a step back and glanced at the ground, the only thing that hadn't been burnt.

"What happened to you, Tobi-kun?" Guy repeated, worry making an appearance in his eyes. Snapping my gaze up to him, I searched for the right wording of what _had_ happened.

"Someone burned my life."


	33. Abandonment

**AN: Thanks so much to Thomas Drovin, Nightshade 929, RainbowBright333, and Love Stories00 for the reviews! It means a lot and brightens my day knowing that people like the story. Also, reviews also inspire me to get chapters out faster, so tell me what you like or don't like, I won't be offended.**

 **Also, I want to hear what the readers think about the story, so don't be shy about sharing! Again, I won't abandon the story at all, because I'm determined to finish it. I don't own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 33**

 **3rd Person P.O.V.**

After being shoved into the metal room, Ono Kabucha glared at the now locked metal door, as if it had been the one who'd wronged her. Hands, cuffed by the chakra restraints and scowl on her face, she finally focused on the green-eyed mummy staring at her from the middle of the room.

"I've been told you want to join the Akatsuki." Hearing this, the girl's eyes narrowed immediately and she took a step back, suspicion setting in.

"Are you the person who's gonna to let me in?" She asked slowly, warning bells going off in her head. Maybe it was the merciless ROOT training or the killing intent the man was giving off, because she had a feeling this man intended to hurt her.

"What do you think?"

Although she saw the black threads shooting to her hands and feet, she was powerless to stop them from latching onto her limbs. Hands, now held to the ground by the strange black threads and feet tied tightly together, Ono Kabucha was now at the mercy of the man before her.

Taking a scalpel from his weapons' pouch, the mummy stared at it thoughtfully, thinking up ideas of torture for an immortal without killing her. Shooting a wrapped arm out, his fingers tightened around her long, white ponytail. Without a second thought, he sliced through the tangled mess of white, rolling his eyes when the scalpel didn't cut it all off in one swipe. Yanking the rest of the locks up, he brought the surgical instrument across and cut the rest off.

"Don't you have brown hair?" He sneered, letting the dead strands of white fall from his hand. "I could've sworn that Zet-... one of the members told me your original hair color was brown."

Wisely keeping her head down, Kabucha didn't say anything.

Instead of asking for an answer, the man grabbed her chin with a vise-like grip and yanked her head up, knowing that she wouldn't talk freely. Without saying anything, the mummy gripped the scalpel like one would a pencil and brought it to the left side of her pale forehead, tip slowly digging into her skin.

It was only when drops of blood appeared from the incision did she shift uncomfortably.

"If you don't want me to give you a scar, you'll admit that Konoha abandoned you," he demanded, looking into her oddly calm, blue eyes.

As she focused on trying to ignore the pain slowly burning on her forehead, her eyes widened at the mummy's words, finally taking into account on what he was _trying_ to do.

When the man realized she wasn't going to say anything, the scalpel moved slowly down her forehead, blood dripping down the girl's face. As more skin was split by the instrument, she couldn't help but cry out, knowing that the slower he cut, the more it hurt.

As suddenly the scalpel was lifted, the man punched her in the stomach quickly and painfully. Hearing her cry out, the mummy smirked and hit her again, over and over, each hit harder than the last.

 **Kabucha's P.O.V.**

As cries of pain escaped, I tried to think of a happy things to distract myself, but I was finding it hard to remember any at all.

The man was monotonous with his assault, punching and kicking my face, stomach, and limbs. Just when I thought the angry and painful feeling in my arms and legs couldn't get worse, he started slicing my skin with that damn scalpel.

Lightning quick slashes appeared on my arms. The pain was much slower to register, and when it did, I started crying tears I didn't know I had. As the agonizingly painful process continued, the cuts started to feel like burns, as if I'd stuck my arms on a hot stove and left them there.

Remembering that I could still move, I tried shrinking away from the torture, but the man grabbed my hair tightly, forcing me to straighten up. Slowly, he dug the scalpel below my right eye, ignoring the tears and blood dripping down my face.

"Why don't you just say it?" He asked softly. Tasting the familiar taste of blood gathering in my mouth, I didn't think twice at what I was going to do.

Spitting the blood in that man's face filled me with brief satisfaction before I was engulfed in a world of pain.

The pain registered quicker than I could think. I could no longer see because blood had clouded my vision. Everywhere besides my face was burning with pain.

 _Fire_

 _Hot_

 _Pain_

That's all I could think about. My calculating brain had been reduced to the receiving end of hot and furious pain engulfing my body. Smelling something salty, sweaty, and bloody, my nose crinkled on pure instinct. My lungs burned, but I didn't know why until a slow thought drawled across my mind.

I'd been yelling. My ears were filled with something, but I didn't know what. It felt like water. Shaking my head a little, the substance left my ears slowly, allowing me to hear again.

"Say it," the man demanded, stopping his assault momentarily.

"S-say...w-what?" I croaked, barely having the willpower to say anything.

"Konoha abandoned you." Drawing a weak and pitiful breath, I opened my mouth, not able to think clearly.

"Konoha..." I started, but when the word left my mouth, a face appeared in my head. A man, with graying brown hair was smiling softly. His slightly wrinkled smile was oddly comforting. I tried to remember his name, but I only recalled it started with a "T." And then I remembered the pain.

"abandoned..." This time, the memory of a kid with brown hair in a spiky ponytail made its way into my head. I didn't remember his name either, but the word, ' _troublesome_ ' ran through my head.

 ** _Pain_**

Breathing a sliver of air, my mouth moved, but I didn't hear myself say it.

"N-no... they... they d-didn't."

I heard laughter.

"Yes, they did. They would've rescued you by now if they didn't abandon you." The logic was clear as day and I was in too much pain to argue.

"K-Konoha abandoned me."

 **Tobi's P.O.V.**

After thoroughly checking me for weapons, Guy escorted me to the hospital, where they immediately ushered me onto a metal bed.

"How did this happen?" A pink-haired girl asked, staring at me with green eyes.

"I..." I stopped myself, not wanting to tell anyone. Nana's death felt sacred and I didn't want anyone to know about her.

"You don't have to tell me now, but after..."

"Understood."

The healing thing went by quickly and I watched with fascination, as my burnt red skin slowly paled to a dim red, pain evaporating as the green stuff healed me. Instead of also healing my hands, she rubbed lotion on them and wrapped them carefully, telling me that the burnt tissue on my hands was too delicate to heal.

"Now, what happened?" She asked. Eyebrows furrowing, I debated on whether or not to tell her.

"What's your name?" I asked, dodging the question.

"Haruno Sakura. If you don't tell me, I'll just ask Guy what happened."

"I didn't tell him either." Eyes widening slightly, the girl hid her shock poorly.

"Why no-"

"I only want to talk to the Hokage." Lips set into a thin line, the girl nodded, but I could tell she was frustrated.

* * *

"Sakura, Guy, who is this?" The busty woman asked, eyeing me with a frown on her face. I didn't mind, because I was too weirded out by the thing on the Hokage's forehead. On either side of me, Sakura and Guy stood, both looking serious.

"Tsunade-sama, this is Tobi." Eyes drifting from Guy to me, she raised an eyebrow at the bandages and burn marks. Sakura said they'd heal if I put lotion on them every night.

"What happened to you, brat?" She asked, a hint of annoyance on her face. Taking in the various bottles strewn about her office, I assumed she was an alcoholic.

"Do they have to be here?" I questioned, unaware of the annoyance on Sakura's face.

"Leave us," the Hokage ordered.

"But, Tsunade-"

"Sakura!" She barked, glaring at the pinkette behind me.

"Leave them be, Sakura," Guy commented seriously, leaving the room with Sakura hesitantly following.

The door slammed behind them.

"Now that we're alone, I want you to tell me exactly what happened to you."


	34. Escape?

**AN: Thanks Thomas Drovin for reviewing and others! Anyways, tell me what you guys think should happen next or want to happen next! I don't own Naruto!**

 **Teagen's P.O.V.**

I walked without a thought. The long hallway had pale blue wallpaper adorning the walls, and the floor was made of polished wood. Hung up on the walls were framed photos of a family. It was only when I inspected one of the photos, did something occur to me.

 _Something's wrong._

The photo was of a smiling father and mother, both hugging a teenage girl with brown hair. The girl's smile was by far the biggest of the three, with wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, as if she'd just won a million ryo. It looked like she didn't mind the metal strings attached to her teeth.

I continued walking.

When the end of the hallway loomed ahead, I hurried to it, not sure why. At the end of the hallway, sat the same family on the couch, watching something on the T.V.

"Hello?" When they didn't answer, I averted my eyes to the screen, wondering what was so captivating.

It was a man and woman, walking along a pair of train tracks. The man grabbed both the woman's hands gently, and together, they lied down on the tracks.

 _This looks... familiar._

"I'll tell you a riddle," the woman started, soothing voice interrupting the even calmer music, "You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away... You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don't know for sure."

I opened my mouth and spoke in English, finishing what the woman was going to say.

"Because it doesn't matter."

The scene melted into total darkness.

"How can it not matter...?" A voice questioned, breaking the silence. Turning around, I caught sight of a figure hunched over, a grey robe hiding any distinct features of their's.

Before I could reply, they spoke again.

"A train... Death. An expected trip somewhere that you want...? Heaven. An unsurity of where you're going...? Hell. Now, enlighten me as to why it doesn't matter if you go to Heaven or Hell."

 _Something's off._

"I... I don't know."

A weak chuckle emitted from the cloaked figure, but they didn't show any signs of laughing.

"You know that isn't _true_."

Waking up, the first thing I noticed was that my chakra wasn't being restrained. Opening my eyes, I only saw a stone ceiling.

"You're awake," a deep voice stated, as if I wasn't aware of me being awake.

"Apparently I am. Where am I?" I asked, noticing that my hands and feet were being tied down to something with just regular ropes. _Fools_.

"Kakuzu, our doctor, patched you up. I'm the leader of the organization and welcome to the Akatsuki." Eyes narrowing at the word, 'doctor,' my hands clenched into fists tightly.

"Thanks. Now, can you untie me? I'm feeling constricted."

"I have to be sure you aren't a threat."

"I'm not going to hurt you."

"You sound truthful. Konan?" When a pair of hands started to untie my right hand, I glanced down and saw something very different.

I was covered in bandages, head to toe. I hadn't noticed it before, but now that I saw them, I felt them tightly wrapped around my skin, which, I assumed, was still damaged. As clothes, I saw a black shirt and black pants had been put on me.

After Konan freed me, I sat up and realized she was the purple-haired lady that had first tried to get me to join. Standing next to her, was an oranged-haired man with lots of piercings on his face.

Of course, they were both wearing the black robe with red clouds.

"So, are you two... a thing?" I questioned innocently, tilting my head and noting that my skull felt lighter without lots of hair attached to it.

Konan's cheeks turned red and the leader coughed awkwardly.

"That's none of your business."

His words were equivalent to my ticket to freedom. Lifting my left arm up, I willed chakra to surge through my arm and wrap around the woman's neck.

The chakra was all too willing to oblige, traveling at a faster speed than I could run and launching itself at Konan's neck, not tightening, but waiting. The grey tendrils reminded me of a snake.

"Now, you're going to lead me to the exit calmly and call off anyone who tries to stop me. Then and only then, will I let her go," I explained coolly, eyes narrowed at the leader. No smile adorned his face, so I assumed he cared about her.

"Fool, if you think to use he-"

"Let me remind you that I can snap her neck at any given moment. I can kill everyone in here and find my way on my own, if you prefer," I suggested, looking back to the purple-haired woman who didn't dare move a muscle and was staring at the leader with wide eyes.

Who knew I could reduce killers to nothing with a mere threat?

The man seemed conflicted, as if he was actually considering letting her suffer to see my freedom.

Suddenly, he pointed his own hand at me. The only thing I thought to do was to point my other hand at him.

When my chakra rushed out to shove him down, it only got halfway to him before it stopped, as if an opposing force had forced it to halt.

His face was equally as shocked as mine, which he couldn't see because of the bandages.

"How?" I demanded, mad that something was preventing me from leaving.

"You know the Deva Path?" He asked, ignoring the fact that neither of us had backed down from trying to force the other back.

"Wha-? I'm not a diva."

"That's not what I'm-"

"Listen! My threat still stands. Let me leave or I'll kill her," I interrupted, not sure as to how this conversation even started.

"But didn't Konoha abandon you?" He asked slowly. I wasn't entirely sure as to where he was looking, because his purple swirly eyes were strange.

"Sometimes, people say things that they don't mean."

* * *

 **Tobi's P.O.V.**

After squeezing out every detail I had from the attack, they'd sent me to the local orphanage.

"You're leaving?" I asked, looking up to the spandex-clad ninja. Smiling, he just gave me a thumbs up, as if he wasn't about to ditch me.

"I'll be back to visit, so don't worry, Tobi-kun!"

"So, you don't actually care, do you?" The question caught him off guard, something unexpected with Might Guy.

"Of course I care, Tobi-kun. We're going to catch the criminals that did that murdered your grandmother." His words sounded assuring, but...

"Can I help?" His eyebrows immediately furrowed and a frown appeared on his usually smiling face.

"Those men are extremely dangerous. Only trained shinobi will be able to take on those men. Plus, I believe a team will be by later to ask you details and the location of the farm."

He left after I smiled.

Of course, a smile could hide lots of things, as Kabucha taught me.


	35. Familiar Faces

**AN: Thanks, Guest and Thomas Drovin for reviewing! It means a lot! I don't own Naruto.**

 **Teagen's P.O.V.**

It had been fairly simple escaping the cave. Of course, other members of the Akatsuki had almost tried to stop me, but with a wave of his hand, Pain, the leader, had called them off. Then I made my way to the exit and escaped.

And now? Now, I was running. To be sure nobody followed me, I summoned my snakes, Gimá and Yuki. To say that they understood what was going on would be a lie, so I had to stop and try to explain what was going on in _Spanish_.

Gimá appearing in a tiny party hat was nothing new, as I'd had to summon him and Yuki for missions sometimes. Yuki, as always, was the professional one of the two and didn't wear anything.

"Dónde estamos?" (Where are we?) Yuki hissed, eyes narrowing at my bandaged figure.

"¿Por qué hay vendajes en su vida? ¿Estás herido?" (Why are there bandages on you? Are you hurt?) Gimá asked, clearly confused. Rubbing my head, I realized just how difficult it was to speak to my summons. They spoke fast, like my old Spanish teacher.

"R..." I paused, trying to remember the correct conjugation for 'repetir,' which meant, 'to repeat.' It was an '-ir' verb, wasn't it? So it didn't follow the same path as '-ar' verbs or '-er' verbs.

"¿Sí?" (Yes?) Yuki pressed impatiently.

"Un momento, por favor," (A moment, please,) I blabbered, hating how difficult this was. Oh, if only I'd paid more attention in Spanish class...

"Bien. De todos modos, no se ve como una momia?" (Alright. Anyway, doesn't she look like a mummy?) Yuki answered, hissing off what sounded like a chuckle.

"¡Sí! Estaba a punto de decir eso," (Yes! I was just about to say that,) Gimá replied, sending both snakes into hysterics, which wasn't a very pleasant sound.

"Por cierto, ¿Por qué estás en un sombrero de fiesta?" (By the way, why're you in a party hat?) Yuki questioned. Both snakes were currently waiting for me to remember the correct wording.

"Ah! Francisco hizo no invitas?" (Ah! Did Francisco not invite you?)

"Francisco hizo una fiesta?! Ese pedazo de mierda..." (Francisco threw a party?! That piece of shit...)

"Bueno," (Okay,) I inturrupted, wondering what the hell they'd been talking about to make Yuki react so violently. "Yo estoy... toma por chicos." (I'm taken by boys.)

"¿Qué pasa si yo llamamos a salir y cuando se despertó , que fingí que había un apocalipsis zombie?" (What if I knock her out and we pretend that there's a zombie apocalypse?) Yuki asked, smirking and looked over at the green snake, who was also laughing.

"Al menos eso sería tiene sentido." (At least that'd make sense.)

"Zombie apocalypse? What?" I questioned, glancing between the two giggling snakes. Had a zombie apocalypse happened when I was gone?

"Salir eso," (Out that,) I finally said, waving them off. Whether or not my meaning got through is lost on me, but I'd been trying to say, 'leave it.'

And now, here I was, walking without a purpose, under the hot, scorching sun, with two talkative snakes slithering behind me, basking in the blazing heat. It was almost like the Land of Fire didn't have a winter, which was weird, because I'd been on plenty of missions with cold weather. Actually, I didn't know _where_ I was.

"Así, ¿Cuándo Francisco enviar las invitaciones?" (So, when did Francisco send out the invitations?) Yuki asked behind me, slithering back and forth along the dirt path.

"No lo hizo. Que sólo tenía que aparecer," (He didn't. You just had to show up,) Gimá replied.

"Bastardo." (Bastard.) I didn't have to know Spanish to know what she had said.

 **~5 hours later~**

"¿Por qué seguimos aquí?" (Why are we still here?) I'm not sure which snake asked, because their voices sounded the same and they were still behind me.

"Debido a que su soleado." (Because it's sunny.)

Forming the 'release' handsign and pushing a bit of chakra, the snakes disappeared.

"I've had enough Spanish for one day," I grumbled. It was hot, humid, and the sun wasn't letting up. Had daylight savings happened while I was gone as well?

Spotting a lake on the side of the path, I ran to the bank and almost jumped in when I realized that I still had the stupid bandages on. Grabbing the loose end of a bandage at my right wrist, I yanked it off, having to untangle the medical strip until it unraveled on its own.

When it stopped unraveling at my shoulder, I grabbed the long, loose strip of dirty, white bandage and took off the rest of it, relinquishing the wind that barely blew onto my bare skin. As I ripped the rest of it off of my legs, I was about to jump into the alluring lake, when I caught sight of something.

Was that... was that _me?_

Gone, was my smooth, freckled shoulders and hands. Gone, was the only characteristic that I'd actually wanted: perfect skin. Instead, like a crossword puzzle with too many words, my skin was littered with red scars, worse than Morino Ibiki himself. And my hair... It was cut raggedly. I looked like a boy. I knew this wasn't my top priority right now, but did this mean they'd let me into T&I? Torture and Interrogation was a branch that Iruka, my Academy teacher, said wouldn't fit me, because I was "too timid."

In fact, did I even want to return to Konoha?

As soon as I thought this, ideas started emerging. I could be a boy and play with girls' hearts. Or be a farmer? Nah, Tobi's life had dulled me to no ends. I didn't have the patience to be a farmer.

What about a musician? Since I knew a bunch of songs, maybe I could become a big hit. I could slowly build up my bank account and be rich.

Hmm... Or, I could be a hitman! Or become a ninja for another village! Oh, the possibilities were endless.

Dentist? Weatherman? Oh! I could start tornadoes... Or a zombie apocalypse! Well, the ninja villages would get rid of the zombies quickly, seeing as how zombies were slow...

I could make them fast!

Hmm... Maybe I should lay low and wait for my ransom to go down with time. Then, _then_ I could start causing havoc.

OR!

A smile adorned my face as I realized another _great_ idea.

I could join other villages' Academies.

 **Tobi's P.O.V.**

Groaning at the book I held in my hands, I threw it to the side, effectively knocking some guy in the head.

"Ow!"

"Get over it!" I yelled, making my anger clear. Before I could read, I'd been expecting books that were exciting and adventurous, not 'Rikota's Great Shinobi Adventure.' The dumb librarian wouldn't let me anywhere near the 'Adults Only' section of the library, so I had no excitement present in my life.

It turns out that the 'team' Guy had told me about, was just a bunch of low-ranking ninja, no older than I was. I'm not sure if it was to make me feel important or what, but I did _not_ appreciate it. Especially not now, when we were sitting on a roof and 'chatting.' Well, they were chatting; I had tried to read 'Rikota's Shinobi Adventure,' but, as you can see, that obviously failed.

"Hey, don't you need to take that back to the library?" Naki asked soothingly, trying to get me to calm down.

"No!" I snapped, trying to get them to leave me alone.

"Knock it off, brat. She's just trying to be nice, you know," Zasso said, putting a hand on my shoulder, which I immediately shrugged off. We were sitting down, but I still had half a foot on all of them.

"Maybe, you two should just leave him alone?" The third member of their genin team suggested. I'd forgotten his name, because it was of no use to me. I didn't care, he wasn't related to me, and I certainly wasn't his friend.

While they tried to get my attention, I let the words bounce off me, not even bothering to register what they were saying. Eyeing the book laying on the dirt path, occasionally getting stepped on, I wondered how high this building was and what would happen if I slipped off.

Judging the distance, and rejudging the distance, I took in a deep breath and pushed off the roof. Hearing the shouts of surprise from the team watching me, I shoved a couple people away and snatched the book back up, closing it so there were no creases.

"Hey, come back!" The third member shouted, pointing at me. Not fully looking at the guy, I shook my head and took off running, enjoying the burst of excitement. I didn't care if I got in trouble, because running away from this team of idiots was going to be the highlight of my day.

"Where'd he go?" Naki asked, scanning the unusually crowded marketplace.

"Not sure. Let's split up," Zasso suggested.

After sprinting a little ways away, to put distance between me and them, I scooped up a loose piece of red cloth on the ground and wrapped it around my head, making myself invisible among mothers and grannies with shawls over their heads. To really sell the act, I slouched a little, making sure nobody recognized my regular walk.

It worked for a little while until someone stopped me.

"Well, well," a voice started, chuckling a tad, "You've outwitted my genin team." At this point, I looked up and was met with an average-looking man. He was wearing a green vest and tan shorts that cutoff at his knees. But that wasn't what stood out to me.

"Wait a second... Aren't you a weap-?"

"Weaponsmaker?" He finished, letting another chuckle out. "Yes, I am. But ever since the disappearance of a friend, I've come out of retirement."

I let the red cloth slide off my head and land in the dusty roads of Konoha.

"You've got 'weeping,' Naki and 'weed,' Zasso' on your team. I forgot that other guy's name. But what's your name? Is it something ridiculous like, 'tree,' Ki?" I asked, trying to lose the man's respect. I couldn't stick out if I wanted to have fun.

"No," he answered, letting out yet _another_ chuckle, "I'm Senyu Temou."


	36. Tobi's Life

**AN: Thanks for the review, Thomas Drovin! Also, thanks for the follows and favorites, it means a lot. I don't own Naruto. Also, more reviews push me to write cooler chapters, so don't be afraid to review! I love reviews. Some say I thrive off them. Actually, people don't say that, I was just being weird.**

 **TO OTHER WRITERS: Don't worry if you don't have a lot of reviews! Just focus on writing your awesome story! Look at me, 60-something reviews and I'm still writing. I know this story isn't a bomb one, but I know it may not hit 10k on reviews or 3k on favorites and follows. Just remember, keep writing and upload whenever you want! Don't be rushed. Take your time! It's your story and that means it's your schedule! Write the story that inspires others! Do whatever you want! Yee-Haw!**

 **Tobi's P.O.V.**

And now I was stuck with Temou for the rest of the day. After he'd dismissed his team, he insisted on taking me out for barbecue, for some weird reason. I wasn't his son, and he certainly wasn't my dad.

"So, Tobi-san, how're you liking Konoha?" Temou asked cheerfully, mouth half-full with food. Despite my protests, he also insisted on paying for me as well.

"I miss Nana," I stated, pushing the luke-warm meat around on my plate, not hungry. Temou swallowed his food, followed by a sip of water, and then stared at me intently.

"Do you mind if I asked what happened to her?"

"Yes."

Silence.

.

.

.

"You know, Tobi, the girl I'm searching for is a missing-nin," he commented, leaving Nana's subject alone for now, "Her name's Ono Kabucha. I don't suppose you know anything about-"

"I do." Temou's wondering eyes snapped to mine, doubt clear in his eyes.

"I don't appreciate liars, Tobi-san." The sharp tone of his voice was as clear as day, but I didn't really take notice to it. I'd said something about a missing-nin and he doubted me, simple as that.

"Did you know her?" I asked, laying my chopsticks on my plate, done with the meal.

"Yes, in fact, I did, and I don't appreciate you joking about it," he said quietly, not a smile to be seen on his face, and not that I was expecting one.

"If I were joking, then how do I know about her stories?"

"What stories?" He tutted, looking out the window, watching the chaos that was Konoha.

"The ones about skyscrapers and going to the moon." Now, I had his attention.

"How do you-?"

"She showed up at my farm and started teaching me ninja stuff." Then, I told Temou everything: the farm, Kabucha, her singing, her teaching, her leaving, that weird guy she left with, etc. It took about all afternoon, and when I was done, he got up, paid, and left, giving me a brief goodbye. Weird, huh?

And now, I was chewing on a rat-on-a-stick, courtesy of the Suna vendor that was in town for a few weeks before returning to his home town. The village was bustling with people, as always, and I was walking around in the hot sun, looking for something to do. I'd never really played with kids my age because there hadn't ever been kids my age around the farm. My entire life had been farming and counting finances and learning to read. I didn't know how to interact with others my age, it seemed awkward.

"Who're you?" A girl's voice asked from behind me. Turning around, I caught sight of a girl with long, brown hair and white eyes. She was wearing a black tank top and long, black pants. She also wore those weird, black sandals that the shinobi wore. With her being a few inches shorter than me, I was relived to at least be taller than her because she had way more muscles than I did. Her arms were thin, but I could definitely see wiry muscles running up and down them.

"A kid enjoying a rat-on-a-stick. You?"

"Answer the question," she demanded, taking a step between my legs, invading my personal space. Without a second thought, I shoved her away, taking her by surprise to say the least. Nana had raised me to be courteous, but to treat others the way they treated you. I'm pretty sure it was the other way around, but Nana's teachings _were_ Nana's teachings.

"Who do you think you are? Let me enjoy my rat-on-a-stick," I declared, not caring in the slightest that she was sprawled out on the ground and giving me the nastiest glare I'd seen in a while. I wasn't aiming to make friends _or_ girlfriends.

"How dare you push Hyuuga Hanabi to the ground, jerk!" She yelled, scrambling up to save a bit of her pride.

"You always refer to yourself in third person?" I asked, glad that Nana had taught me the different types of point of views.

"Do you realize what you've just done?" She hissed, glaring through hateful eyes.

"Does it look like I care? You invaded my personal space, so I removed you, simple as that," I explained, taking a bite out of the rat. It was quite delicious and the vendor that'd sold me it had said he'd put a little wine in it to 'spice' it up. What a genius.

"Name?" She asked again, though with slightly less aggression than when she'd first asked.

"Tobi."

"No surname?"

"What's that again?"

"Last name."

"Oh, yeah, no. I'm an orphan, you see, Hyuuga Hanabi."

"You're good with words for being an orphan."

"Thank you...?"

"Anyways, you're going to pay, Tobi. I'm telling my clan about this."

"You tattle a lot?" I questioned, raising a blond eyebrow. All I'd done was shove her away from me. Plus, I was just trying to enjoy my rat-on-a-stick. What was so wrong with that?

"You're going to pay," she proclaimed, smirking at my confused face.

With that, she huffed, snapped her body around, and walked away. I'm not sure if I was seeing things correctly, but was she swaying her hips? Did women always walk like that? It was so _weird_. If she were older, she'd probably dislocate her hip that way; I only knew that because Nana had decided to act like a model for some reason and she dislocated her hip once. It'd taken forever to run to Rosenglade, the closest town to the farm, while half-carrying, half-dragging Nana.

Shaking my head, I carried on my merry way, finally deciding to lie out on a desolated rock and tan for a while. I'd replaced my bandages around my hands, like Sakura had told me and applied the ointment to my palms last night, having to see by the dim-lighting in the orphanage's bathrooms. The clothes I'd been given were a green shirt and green shorts, along with the same black sandals as Hanabi.

The hardest thing about living in the orphanage was the caretaker. No matter how many times I'd tried to sneak out after dark, he'd always catch me. My suspicions had been confirmed when I'd peeked in his office and seen a green vest hanging on the wall, proudly displayed for only him to see; he was a retired shinobi.

But in the day, it wasn't so bad. I got to explore and with a small allowance, I was given freedoms I hadn't had before, like buying what I could afford.

By the end of the week, I'd become paranoid. Let me explain. You see, ever since my encounter with the Hyuuga Heiress, I'd been seeing her everywhere: marketplace, my favorite tanning spot, in front of the civilians' school, etc. Now, this was a problem because I could _not_ lie out to enjoy the sun knowing she was somewhere near. I'd tried avoiding her, but somehow, she figured out where I was going to be, strange, right?

"Knock it off," I demanded, voice cutting through the silence. I sat up on the rock, making sure to keep my fingertips off the scorching stone. My palms were protected by the bandages.

"I know you're there, Hyuuga Hanabi," I declared, looking to the bush that had rustled 30 seconds ago. When I lied in silence, I heard everything that happened around me, including a rustling bush on a windless day.

"What's it gonna take to get you to leave me alone?" I asked the silence, still confident that she was there.

"Why do you keep calling me by my full name?" She asked, just as a shadow appeared in front of my face. Opening my eyes, I realized she was standing next to me, casting her shadow.

"How'd you get here so fast? I thought you were in that bush." I pointed to the said bush.

"I'm in the last year at the Academy. If you heard me, then I probably wanted you to," she declared, putting her hands on her hips. If I squinted, I could make out a smirk on her face.

" _Probably_ ," I repeated, making it clear that she wasn't perfect. "So, what do ya want?"

"I want to repay you for what you did to me on Monday."

"You're still on about _that?_ " I questioned, unsure if this was what Nana had called a 'grudge.'

"Yes, but I must know," she started, ignoring me repeat, ' _must know_ ,' "why do you keep calling me by my full name?" Shrugging, I tried to think up a great reason on the spot.

"You introduced yourself as Hyuuga Hanabi, didn't you? So, that's what I decided to call you." It wasn't perfect, but the girl caught me by surprise.

"Oh... Well, call me Hyuuga-san, if you want." This caught my attention, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

 _'If I want?'_

Warning flags went off in my head, and I'm not sure if I was being paranoid or not, but I think Hanabi _liked_ me. I'd started being cautious about people ever since I'd arrived in the village and now wasn't an exception.

"Look, Hyuuga-san, I'm sorry about what I did on Monday. It wasn't right and I wasn't thinking," I blurted out, trying to get out of the situation.

"Thanks for the apology, but I'm afraid I had something else in mind."

"Wha-?" Before I knew what happened, someone hoisted me up and we disappeared in a blur.


	37. Faults

**AN: Thanks so much for the amazing reviews, Thomas Drovin. I don't own Naruto.**

 **Teagen's P.O.V.**

I was _tired_. My legs didn't want to walk any further. It had been days since I'd last eaten and there was nothing left but forest. Looking down, I saw my worn out sandals. The cloth covering my feet had long since withered, and the only thing protecting my feet were bits and pieces of the shoes that had survived my weary hike and long imprisonment.

My stomach rumbled, demanding food.

But I didn't have any to give it.

Eyelids fluttering, desperately trying to stay open, I wondered if I would die again. Even though I'd died from hunger before, I didn't ever want to do it again. I could still remember my bone thin body, threatening to be swept up by the powerful wind that night.

I didn't want to experience that _ever_ again.

A week ago, I'd had thoughts of impersonating a small child and entering another village's Academy. That was then, and this is now. Those childish thoughts had vacated my head three days ago, when I had realized my current predicament.

And now, I barely had the energy to walk. Even though I couldn't stay dead, I could still die.

My arms swung by my side, occasionally brushing against my smelly shirt. My feet were barely shuffling along, barely moving me forward, barely leaving the dusty earth.

As my left foot shuffled forwards, it caught on something. I never saw what it was because of how dark it was.

I went down, and so did my will to continue.

As I lied there, turning my head so I didn't accidentally inhale the dirt, I wondered what I had missed.

I'd always wanted to read, "The Fault In Our Stars," but it had always been checked out of the library. Through eavesdropping, I'd heard tidbits of what the book was about. The bookworms at my old school had never shut up about it, saying, " _I wish I could find someone like Augustus Waters. He's so caring and considerate of Hazel_ ," and " _Always._ " I had never actually figured out why they said, 'always.'

Wearily, I twisted myself over, so I could watch the stars.

"It'll be a dramatic death, maybe one worthy of a Shakespearean play," I thought, curiously gazing at the stars the way a newborn would its parents. They looked absolutely breathtaking, at least when you were about to die. Did Shikamaru - I'd remembered his name yesterday - look at the sky because of the clouds and the stars? Did he watch the sky at night, too?

Should I say something before I die, like in the movies? Licking my cracked lips with a dry tongue, I remember a poem I'd had to memorize in 9th grade, back in the old world.

"Nature's first green is gold," I began in English, ignoring my wispy-like voice, "Her hardest hue to hold. Her... early leafs a flower, but... but only so an hour," I paused, trying to remember the rest of the poem, "Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief. S-so dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay."

As I closed my tired eyes, I wondered what would've happened if I hadn't been an idiot for joining ROOT.

"Save your blabber." Cracking my eyes open to a woman's voice, I spotted a dark figure hunched over me. Was that-? No, it wasn't Kiba. The woman had red stripes on her face and spiky brown hair crowning her head. She had on a green vest, a symbol of Konoha. Underneath the vest was a long-sleeved, black shirt and she also wore black pants.

A snout blocked my vision of the woman, and then, teeth. Hearing a growl, I deemed it a wolf, a very large wolf. In that moment, I remembered "Jurassic Park" and how scary I had been when my father had forced me to watch it. I had broken down in tears when the T-Rex had broken out of the cage.

"Down, Kuromaru!" The woman snapped. Immediately, the teeth were out of my sight.

"Mother, don't get too close," another voice said, also female. The woman hunched over me gave a sharp bark of laughter, revealing sharp, white canines. I wondered if she was insane.

"Hana, don't order me around. You can clearly see she's close to death, don't you?" The women asked, gesturing to me. Hearing this, I gave a weak chuckle, but the joke was lost on them.

"What're you laughing at?" The woman questioned, turning to stare me in the eye, "You've just been captured."

"Mother, what if she really is-?"

"Quiet, Hana!" She ordered, looking me over. I heard a 'humph! before another woman entered my line of sight, watching warily. She resembled the first woman, but looked younger.

"Awake?" I stayed quiet, almost on the verge of death. The feeling before you died was like a falling sensation and I was beginning to fall.

 _Down._

 _Down._

 _Down._

The older woman's hand shot out and grabbed my chin, halting my fall into death.

"Hana, water." In less then a second, an opened water jug was in her other hand. Opening my mouth, she carefully gave me refreshing water, all the while I stared at her dark eyes. It was hard to believe this woman wasn't Kiba, after all, they did have the same features. Maybe this is what Kiba would look like if he was a woman.

"I can see you've got something on your mind." Finishing off the water she had graciously given me, I nodded slightly.

"W-why," I shakily started, coughing a bit, "Why don't you kill me?" The woman's smile was gone and in its place was a gruesomely serious face. I had no doubts she could kill me if she wanted.

"We were instructed to track and capture you," she answered, voice low and dangerous, "But, if you give me any reason to kill you, I won't hesitate."

"What I want to know," Hana interrupted, "Is why an A-class criminal let herself starve."

"I would also like to know," the other woman agreed, "We were prepared to face a stone cold murderer, but you just reek."

I never answered, only let them haul me to Konohagakure.

 _"Can you see the sunset from the South side real good?"_

 _"Yeah, real good."_

 _"You can see it from the North side too."_

-The Outsiders


	38. Realization

**AN: Thanks to everyone that's reviewed! Thomas Drovin, 4everfictional, acatpiestuff, kiki8o, Nightshade 929. It means a lot when you guys review! Thanks so much, and I apologize for the short chapters. I don't own Naruto.**

 **Teagen's P.O.V.**

 _"What would've happened if I'd never appeared in this world?_ " I wondered, watching the large dog who was watching me. It was the older woman's dog because the younger girl had three snarling dogs with her, while the older woman had only one hound.

It reminded me of "Cujo."

Stephen King's book had excited me and I'd enjoyed reading about the details of an enraged German Shepard with rabies trying to kill everyone. I'd never actually realized what it'd be like to experience the real thing. Needless to say, I sat _very_ still, staring back into the wolf's eyes, its soulless, black eyes.

The two women were watching me and eating something that smelled like cooked meat. The younger girl fed her three mutts some of the meat, and judging from how close the large wolf was to me, I'm guessing that the older lady had already fed it.

"Scared?" The oldest asked, a smirk making its way onto her tattooed face. Wordlessly glancing at the lady, I nodded my head slightly, making sure to avert my sight back to the wolf. No need to lose sight of Cujo.

I could've sworn the wolf smiled.

"Why?" She asked, rising from the log she'd been sitting on, "Is it because of the teeth? The size? Trust me, I can smell your fear, but I would love to know what's causing it."

She approached me slowly, as a cobra sizing up its opponent, but I wasn't going anywhere. Not with these ropes binding my arms and legs. No chakra restraints, just regular ropes.

The wolf wasn't bothered in the slightest and stared back at me, watchi-

 **No.**

 _Observing_ me. It smelled the sweat clinging to my forehead from the hot night in the Land of Fire, heard me take in deep breaths as I tried to calm my nerves, and felt my fear with its creepy wolf instinct.

The lady stopped walking and squatted in front of me, right next to her wolf, to her _Cujo_. Her face was illuminated by the half-moon in the night sky, highlighting the red tattoos running down her face. Her scraggly, wild, brown hair was a large crown upon her head, sticking out every which way.

"What're you afraid of, A-class?" She questioned with a sly smile, revealing white fangs slightly similar to her wolf's. Her face was close to mine, too close for comfort, but I wasn't going to reveal that.

"That wolf," I finally answered, taking a short breath and trying to reassure myself that everything was going to be okay. The woman let out a bark of laughter, showing me she wasn't going to take this seriously.

"An A-classed criminal afraid of Kuromaru? Why, I know he's dangerous, but really?" She asked, a feral grin plastered on her sharp face. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her intimidation attempt. Was this an Alpha and Omega moment? What even _was_ that?

"One scratch from a rapid bat," I stated calmly, tilting my head away from her's, "and that wolf's as good as dead."

Slowly, the woman's grin disappeared, but before she snapped at me, a branch snapped. Both women's heads whipped to the area where the sound was, as did their wolves. The younger lady, Hana I think, stood up and pointed a kunai towards the darkness that the small bonfire couldn't reach.

Taking a deep breath in, I watched as the older women turned away from me and towards the darkness as well, sniffing for something. With a snap of her fingers, her large wolf barred its teeth and let out a growl, approaching the dark trees with caution.

Hearing a soft outtake of breath right next to my ear, I snapped my head around, searching for someone. The empty space of blackness was the only thing behind me, but I knew it wasn't the slight of the wind. It had been so quiet, that the wolf girls hadn't heard it.

"If this is you-"

"How could it be me?" I interrupted, quite upset that someone would assume that, "My hands are tied, rememb-"

 **Tick**

 **Tock**

My brown eyes widened as a faint memory of where _that_ sound was from came to mind. The wolves started whining and shaking their heads, as if bugs were trying to crawl through their ears. Their owners weren't doing much better, with trying to plug their ears from a sound I couldn't hear.

There was no words to the rhyme, but there wasn't any need to. That _tick_... That _tock_... It was from the commercial for " _The Woman in Black_." Back then, I was obsessed over scary movies, and I couldn't stop watching the trailer for it. But this wasn't my head. This wasn't a dream.

From the shadows stepped a girl with orange hair and red eyes. She wore a black shirt and black pants, well fitting for someone who needed to slip into the night. Her hands were clasped out in front of her throat and her mouth was open, but instead of words, that's where the sounds were coming from.

"During afternoon tea, there's a shift in the air." Both Hana and the other woman turned to the sound, hands still clasping their ears, and confusion flickering across their faces for a few seconds. Why?

Well, the girl was speaking _English_.

"How?" I muttered, awestruck at hearing my original language.

"Kekkei-genkai," someone whispered, heat tickling my ear. A swift chop to the head and I was out.


	39. Where am I?

**AN: Thank you everyone who's reviewed! And keep reviewing! I apologize for the short chapters, but they're necessary. I don't own Naruto.**

Drip.

Drop.

Drip.

Eyes opening at something cold dripping onto my nose, I didn't see anyone. A padded room surrounded me, and illuminating the cell was a lone light bulb hanging precariously from the ceiling. I was tied to a chair, all limbs tied down tightly. A lone door stood in the corner without a handle, reminding me of what had happened.

Someone had knocked me out; someone that could make a strange noises with their mouth. As I tried to recollect who it'd been, the memory of an orange-haired girl wearing all black surfaced, as did the strange noise she'd made to make Hana and the other woman clutch their ears.

Her voice... she'd spoken English, but how? The words 'kekkei genkai' drifted through my head, reminding me that someone had revealed the secret to me before I'd been knocked out.

Hearing the sound of a handle being turned on the other side of the padded door, I wearily glanced at it, half expecting Morino Ibiki or Mitarashi Anko to stroll in and start a brief interrogation before I'd be sentenced to a life in prison.

It creaked open and a brief thought that someone should oil the door drifted to my head before I banished the thought in favor of doing something smart.

As the door opened, I wondered if my situation would turn out like one in the movies, where the adults don't believe the child and dismiss them.

Behind the open door stood a man. He wore a forehead protector of Iwagakure upon his leg. He also wore a simple blue shirt and black shorts. Besides the fact that his arms were slightly wrapped, he didn't look too interesting other than the fact that he'd plopped a chair down in front of me. Blue eyes, brown hair, rugged skin, I've seen it before.

The white, padded door shut and soon after, a click was heard throughout the room.

"Ono Kabucha?" He asked, grainy voice breaking the silence. The man sat in his chair uncomfortably, as I would in school. This, I noted. A scar ran from arm to arm in a straight line and this led me to suspect it'd be on his chest, too. Black gloves covered his hands, slightly dirty black gloves. The fact that he was from Iwa was something to remember. After all, Konoha and Iwa weren't exactly friends.

"That's alright," he said, staring me in the eye. "You don't have to answer. Just listen."

His eyes, I noted, were hard and unforgiving. He didn't care what happened to me.

A quick smack to my face brought me to attention. The man had swatted me, showing no pity on a prisoner, as a good torturer wouldn't.

"I said, where did you get those scars?" He demanded, voice rising. Slowly looking back at the man, I closed my mouth from where it'd been open in shock from the hit.

"Screw you."

Quicker than the last, another punch shot to my face, snapping my head to the side. The pain was sudden, but it wasn't anything I hadn't felt before. The man was on his feet now, standing above me with a snarl on his face, fist raised in anger

"Answer the question, traitor."

Slowly turning my gaze back to the man, I took deep breaths, not caring if I appeared tough or not. After all, I'd gotten the scars from torture. What's the worst he could do?

"I said, screw you."

Instead of one punch, the man hit me with a barrage of kicks and punches, venting his anger on me as if I were a punching bag. I wasn't too fazed, but it still hurt. The pain didn't leave my face or torso, letting me know I'd have bruises tomorrow. Realizing that I still had a problem controlling my chakra, I tried keeping my annoyance down.

"Answer."

A gut feeling told me this wasn't going to end well. With my rising anger at being interrogated, I opened and closed my tied hands and took deep breaths.

"I don't know who did it," I finally answered, hoping he'd stop. The man held his fists still and then relaxed, crossing his arms on his chest.

"There ya go," he started, a smile making its way onto his face, "that wasn't so hard, was it?"

I didn't answer, hoping he'd leave me alone.

"Too bad I don't believe you." Before he could hit me again, I stared him in the eyes as I let go of my chakra, letting it surge through my opened palms facing the ground.

Grey chakra tendrils shot towards the man, wrapping around his figure quicker than he could punch. The man's blue eyes widened, shocked that something had happened to him, the torturer.

"I'm telling the truth," I said, slowly releasing the man, chakra surging back into my palms.

As soon as he was back on his feet, I fell unconscious from a punch to the chin.


	40. On the Contrary

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews! Means a lot! I don't own Naruto.**

" _All that is gold does not glitter,_

 _Not all those who wander are lost;_

 _The old that is strong does not wither,_

 _Deep roots are not reached by the frost._

 _From the ashes a fire shall be woken,_

 _A light from the shadows shall spring;_

 _Renewed shall be the blade that was broken,_

 _The crownless again shall be king."_

J.R.R. Tolkien

I wished I was smart enough to come up with a quote like that. But, then again, I wished for a lot of things; impossible and highly implausible things. Go home, play volleyball, and eat blackberries. Okay, so maybe that last one isn't impossible, but it's very unlikely with my current predicament.

Chains were meant to keep people down, to stop them from going anywhere. When I'd woken up three hours ago, I'd found my arms shackled with chakra-sealing chains. My fingers were tied to my palms, preventing me from opening my hands at all. Although it hurt, I couldn't complain. It was my fault, after all.

I'd always thought that having an escort sounded wild and fun, someone you could trust. Of course, I'd always been thinking about someone to take me to the prom. My escort was Iwagakure's version of Konohagakure's ANBU. Maybe they did have ANBU, but I'd never paid attention in the Academy. To this day, I still don't know the first few leaders of Konoha.

Iwa's geographical landscape could be summed up in one word: rocks. Rock houses, rock temples, rock toilets, etc. Its climate was what I'd always envisioned London's as: gloomy. Besides the few people that had stopped and stared at me being escorted to the leader's office, nearly everyone looked unfriendly and overall, unhappy with their lives. As far as I could see, scowls and frowns weren't uncommon in Iwa.

My lovely escort of 6 Black Ops ninja weren't very friendly either. Although I wasn't expecting smiles and gifts from the folks, I thought the unnecessary need to glare at me if I made eye contact with one of them was a bit much.

Averting my gaze from the unfriendly woman escorting me to my right, I shifted my attention to something happening in front of someone's shop. A double-chinned lady had just shoved a skinny, short kid out of her shop, none to gently either. Around them, people shoved by each other, not caring about the kid or what she did.

"Brat, trying to steal from me?!" She shrieked in an unattractive voice, clutching half a loaf of bread in her fattened fingers, bread squishing between her obese digits in her tight grip. The kid whimpered under her hateful tone, shrinking back as if she were trying to sink into the stone ground below. The girl had ratty, brown hair and a dirtied face with rags as clothes to match. An orphan, then.

"No, l-lady. I-I was just… h-hungry." From the sound of her high voice, I guessed that the kid was about 6 or 7, though I could be wrong. Before I could see what was going to happen next, the escort passed the scene, along with me.

I didn't need to see, because my ears told me everything. A series of 'oofs!' and 'thuds' sounded behind me and a sick feeling crept to my stomach as the girl's cries could be easily heard, as though the obese woman was kicking her harder and harder. What really shocked me, was that the Black Ops team didn't bat an eye at the unfortunate girl or intervene before things got serious.

"I take it that you all pride yourselves in being part of an elite team of Iwagakure?" I asked clearly, so there was no confusion as to what I'd said. Nobody responded, though I did get a rough shove from behind.

"Please!" I heard the girl scream, "I'm sorr-!" She was cut silent by a particularly loud 'thud!'

The girl never moved again.

"Glad I got to experience how wonderful Iwagakure is in the flesh," I sneered, looking straight ahead at the endless village of rocks.

"It'd be smart for you to hold your tongue, traitor," the kunoichi next to me snapped, brandishing a sharp kunai to my throat, right above my jugular. Surprise, surprise, nobody cared enough to save the life of their prisoner. I wasn't expecting much anyway from a team of idiots who wouldn't save a child's life.

When we arrived at the leader's building, we were let in without a second thought. Climbing the stars to an office, the chains bounced off each other, making an annoying clanking sound. I understood why they'd bound my fingers to my palms, but one of my many scars was itchy and I couldn't scratch it. My arms were also getting tired of having to hold the heavy chains that bound them together and my feet were sore from wearing old shinobi shoes.

The one things I wasn't irritated about though, was my hair. I was glad it was short and my head felt lighter. Plus, from whatever Danzo had done to the hair dye, my roots were white, not brown, so at least I didn't look stupid.

When our merry band of coldhearted ninja arrived at the top of the rocky staircase, the woman that had threatened me opened the wood door with confidence, though I'm not sure what that means. I mean, she radiated confidence when she opened the door, I just… I 'm not sure how to describe it.

As quick as she opened the door, I was hustled in by the elite 6 and shoved in front of a desk in the circular room. The room was (surprise, surprise) made out of stone. It looked like the Hokage's office, with a wooden desk in the center and a simple chair behind it. Behind the desk were three framed photos hung on the wall. Seeing as one of them was the old guy in the chair, I guessed that those were previous leaders. The man sitting in the chair was one of those tiny people I'd only seen on TV and once in downtown Dallas. He was shorter than half my height and had grey hair with a large nose upon his pudgy face.

Next to his desk, was a girl with short, black hair and a simple red outfit. She didn't look very friendly and I don't know how else to describe her. Oh, she was slightly shorter than me, so that was a bonus.

"This," the man behind the desk started, "is Ono Kabucha?" I'm not sure what he was expecting. His tone was kind of disbelieving, as though my picture didn't match up to my actual face. I raised a white eyebrow, something that didn't go unnoticed by the leader and his assistant lady.

"Yes, Lord Tsuchikage," the woman who'd harassed me answered, bowing.

 _Asskisser._

"Leave us."

"But, Lor-"

"Now!" He snapped, interrupting whatever pathetic explanation she was going to give him. The 6 Black Op ninja hightailed it out of the office, disappearing in a brief flash before they were gone. The woman in red stood at my side now, staring at me with those strange black eyes of her's.

"Ono Kabucha," he read from a folder on his desk, "A-class missing-nin. Originally from Konohagakure. Disappeared before Final Exams of the Chunin Exam held in Konohagakure five years ago. Has a summoning contract with snakes. Elemental affinity: fire. Be aware, that after various evidence that has come to light, this kunoichi is in fact immortal, not to be confused with the S-class missing-nin, Hidan."

"Looks like someone's done their homework," I stated calmly, not knowing what else to say.

"Want to tell us where you got the scars?" The woman asked, making me wonder who was conducting the interrogation.

"From a guy in a black robe that had red clouds on it."

"That's not what you told the interrogator at Torture and Interrogation," the old man replied, putting his hands on the desk. Shrugging, I didn't care. I wanted to wrong my rights. That's the only reason I'd allowed myself to be captured. Well, not allowed; that made it sound like I was being cocky.

"Yeah, well that guy punched me," I explained, trying to gesture to my bruised face. "Hey, while we're on the topic, can you guys give me your names? I gave you mine."

"But we weren't on that topic," the woman said, obviously confused. The old guy waved her off and sternly looked me in the eyes.

"You said black robe with red clouds on it?" He asked, leaning forwards in the chair curiously. Shifting my brown eyes around the office, I finally looked him in the eye again, but with a cautious approach this time. It was obvious he knew what I was talking about, but what do I sa-?

"Answer him," the woman ordered in a cold voice, interrupting my own thoughts.

"Yes," I answered, shooting the lady a glare before looking back at the old guy. "They tried getting me to join them, but I didn't, so they tortured me. The guy that did it was able to control black threads and during the torture thing, I wasn't able to remember anything. Yeah, it was that painful. Anyway, I think their name was… Acatsing? Akitesin? Acarshr-?"

"Akatsuki," the man interrupted, his eyes falling somewhat.

"That's the one," I assured. The man and woman looked at each other, slightly shocked, before turning their intense gazes back to me.

"Why'd you leave Konoha?" The woman asked, obviously interested in my dark and (not really) mysterious past.

"I don't think you're authorized to ask that question," I retorted. Wait, where had that come from? I wasn't a sassy person and didn't normally have an attitude. Was it the fact that I hated being told what to do? Or was it the fact that when I was told to do something, that something wasn't right?

"And who are you?" I inquired, seriously wanting to know these people's names. They looked at each other with confused expressions before turning the confusion on me.

"Wait, you don't-?"

"Why do you think I asked twice?" I cut off, getting irritated. The old man got out of his chair and slowly walked around the desk, before stopping in front of me.

"I am the Sandaime (Third) Tsuchikage, Onoki. That's my granddaughter, Kurotsuchi. How did you not know who I was? I understand why you wouldn't know her, but…" He ended by giving me an 'are-you-serious' look.

"I barely passed my history tests at the Academy." They sighed in irritation.

"I believe I'm qualified to ask why you left Konoha," the Tsuchikage stated, crossing his arms. He would've looked much more threatening if he were taller and didn't have a yellow ribbon holding back his grey hair.

"Alright, first off, I didn't leave. I was kidnapped by a guy named Kabuto. I forgot his surname. Anyway, second off, I escaped and camped out with a farmer and her family. Then" Before I could say anything about Sai finding me, a familiar burning sensation filled my mouth, preventing me from opening my lips to speak. Eyes widening just a second, I'd forgotten that I still had Danzo's seal on my tongue, preventing me from saying anything about Root or its members.

"Then…?" The Tsuchikage pressed. Shrugging my shoulders, I tried playing it off as a situation where I merely forgot what had happened, but the woman didn't buy it.

"You didn't forget," she accused, leaning closer to look me in the eyes, "It was almost like you couldn't say what you wanted to say." I wanted to tell them, but I didn't know how… Wait. I actually wanted to punch myself in the face right now, but I couldn't, so I sighed loudly, ashamed of my stupidity.

"Alright. Look at this." Opening my mouth, I stuck my tongue out far enough to where they could see the damned seal on my tongue. I couldn't feel it, but then again, I don't think you could actually feel seals. That's something for the hippies to figure out, or at least, that's what it sounded like.

"A curse seal…?" The Hokage of this village said. I'd already forgotten his title. Not everyone had perfect memory and this place had weird names for everything. I couldn't remember all that.

"What? Is that illegal or something?" I questioned, looking at their shocked expressions.

"It's frowned upon in most places, but not illegal," the woman answered. Dangit, I'd already forgotten her name, too. After a good moment of silence, the leader of Iwa broke it with a huff.

"Well, the only one good enough with seals is Jiraiya. When we go to the Five Kage Meeting in the Land of Iron, you will come with us," the leader said. "And we will turn you over to Konoha for a small price."

Stopping my eyes from rolling at the last second, I nodded to show my understanding. I seriously doubted that it would be a 'small price.' After all, Iwa and Konoha weren't on good terms. And why had they take me so lightly? Also, where were the two Konoha women that had been with me? I know I ask too many questions, but what about that lady with the orange hair? Her kekkei genkai was so cool! What is she could sing some songs to me in English?


	41. Fin

**AN: I'm sorry. This story is going to be discontinued. However, I'll be putting it up for adoption. Thank you so much for all the reviews and favorites and follows, and I'm so glad you all like it. Now, since I'm not the devil, I'll suggest a few endings that I contemplated on having, as I don't want to leave any of you hanging high and dry with a burning hatred for me in your hearts.**

 **1)** Kabucha attends the Five Kage Summit with the Tsuchikage and his bodyguards. After seeing her, the shinobi and kunoichi from Konoha attempt to take her back. After they do get her back, Kabucha lives life in Konoha with a pardon, as Sasuke did. She avoids being captured by anyone else and lives her life as a doctor at the hospital.

Living her life in seclusion, Kabucha is miserable, while watching her friends grow old and die.

 **2)** On her way to the Five Kage Summit, two Time and Space police officers appear, telling her she's disrupted the balance of the Naruto world. Now, I know this isn't common in most Naruto stories, but it seems very realistic. After all, how'd she get there? Did she step on an uneven crack like some people in the Leven Thumps series did? It can't just happen randomly.

A portal can't appear out of nowhere. Even though this is a common characteristic within many Naruto OC stories, this will not be a possibility in mine. Also, she didn't die and cme back to life as an 8 year old.

So the Time and Space officers and Kabucha disappear from the Naruto world forever and return Kabucha (Teagen) to her real world with no time passed since the last memory she remembers, saying that she's created a mess for them to clean up.

 **I'm ending the story like a Choose Your own Adventure book. I'm giving, you, the readers the choice of the ending, as I cannot. I can't decide on how to continue and am choosing to end the story all together. Call me crazy. Call me dumb. Call me lazy. I do not care. This story is one of a kind and I don't know how to end it.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **Elis Island**


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